Where There Is Smoke
by Lady Quickshift
Summary: TF:Prime, takes place after "Legacy"; Prime had hoped that having Jack teach Smokescreen about Earth would make the reckless newcomer a little more responsible, maybe they picked the wrong Darby for the job.
1. Chapter 1

Where There Is Smoke…

Rated:T

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's please ask before using any part of them.

Takes place after "Legacy" but since I hadn't seen any episodes after that by the time I wrote this, I won't follow the same individual plots those episodes do.

Talking: "English or other Earth languages"

"_**Cybertronian,**_"

:Comm. link:

'_Thoughts'_

(Bond talk)

**(_Bumblebee speaking_)**

* * *

Optimus Prime stared blankly at the Star Saber as it glowed brightly in his grasp."_**I am receiving a message"**_

"_**From who?"**_

"_**Alpha Trion…"**_

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_Optimus was unaware of what was going on around him as his processors were overrun by information that had been stored inside the blade of the Star Saber by the Master Archivist for him to find._

_This information told him of the power of not only the Star Saber, but of two other weapon's as well—The Skyboom Shield and the Requiem Blaster—and the unspeakable power the three had when combined together._

_Optimus Prime knew they were on Earth somewhere, like all the other Iacon relics, and it was imperative that these three were __**never **__found by Decepticons, with them they could wipe out entire galaxies at leisure._

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When the message ended, the Autobot leader reset his optics once and looked at his fellow Autobots , who were watching him with concern.

"_**Optimus, what did the message say?" **_Ratchet checked his leader over for any sort of damage.

"_**It told me of two other Iacon relics that coincide with the Star Saber; The Skyboom Shield and the Requiem Blaster,"**_

"_**So, basically, the Star Saber is part of a set?"**_

Smokescreen stepped forward, having drawn back when he was getting reprimanded for his actions earlier. "_**Yeah, The Star Saber, the Skyboom Shield and the Requiem Blaster were all weapons created by Solus Prime. According to legend, when the three are combined they form a super weapon known as the Hydra Cannon, which is rumored to be able to blast whole planets to atoms with a single shot,"**_

The whole room was stunned into a moment of silence which was broken by Arcee. "_**Okay, so letting the 'Cons get a hold of one would be a bad thing,"**_

Bumblebee nodded **(_Oh, yeah. Very bad._)**

While the others were talking about what the Saber's message held, the monitors beeped. Thinking it was Agent Fowler calling, Ratchet answered, pretending to be one of those "Voicemail messengers" the humans used. "Hello, you have reached Omega Outpost I. Sorry we missed your call but if you leave your name and contact information…"

:Ratchet, this is June Darby. I am outside, and I know you're all in so open the door and let me inside.:

Sensing there was no room in her tone for argument, he reluctantly complied. "_**Heads up, Nurse Darby just got here,"**_

"_**Who?"**_ Smokescreen had never met Nurse Darby himself.

"_**Nurse June Darby is the only adult human that frequents our base besides Agent Fowler. She is also Jack's mother, which means I do not think it is a mystery as to why she is here,"**_

"_**Umm, 'Mother'?"**_

Arcee shot him a devious smirk "_**Oh, that's right, you don't know a lot about humans yet. In other words, I believe Jack's Carrier would like a few words with you,"**_

Smokescreen froze up as realization hit him and a human woman with slight resemblance to Jack—same hair, only long and tied back, and same eyes—came around the corner and marched up the stairs to the humans' area with her fists clenched at her sides and an irritated look on her face.

Once she reached the edge, she looked right at Smokescreen. "Are you Smokescreen?"

Everything about this woman reminded him of a Cybertronian Carrier whose sparkling had been put in harm's way by somebot that was supposed to be looking after them, Smokescreen nodded and took a tentative step forward, actually fearing for his well-being under her piercing gaze.

June crossed her arms across her chest "Just what did you think you were doing? Not only could you have gotten Jack into serious trouble with those pranks you pulled, you willingly brought him with you to someplace where the Decepticons could have been with no back up… You boys could have been killed!"

Optimus stepped in "Nurse Darby, I understand your concern for Jack's well-being, but while the actions taken by our new recruit were foolish, the reason they had no back up was because we had been led astray by a false locator beacon into a "dead zone" in communications and had no way of knowing this until Ratchet bridged himself to our location and told us himself,"

"So, basically, the Decepticons were playing 'keep away' with you and Jack got caught in the middle?"

Smokescreen sighed in relief, now that attention was off him for a while.

June's head snapped back in his direction. "Oh, I'm not done with you yet. Go sit in the corner and think about what you've done and I'll deal with you in a minute,"

"But…"

Her eyes narrowed as she pointed to a corner of the room "Corner, now."

Smokescreen doorwings lowered submissively as he slumped with a brief "Yes, ma'am," and trudged over to the corner and sat on the ground facing away from the others, who were shocked by this act of obedience and started talking amongst themselves.

"_**Did you see that?"**_

"_**He **__never __**listens to us like that,"**_

Optimus looked over at the usually arrogant and headstrong mech and back at June, who was walking closer to them. "Now could someone please tell me what has been going on?"

"Smokescreen recently came to Earth in an escape pod he stole from a Decepticon ship. Since then he has been helping us locate and retrieve the remaining Iacon relics which is helpful since he worked at the Hall of Records himself. However, since he had much to learn about Earth and its customs in order to remain under the radar, we asked that Jack teach him since he was usually the responsible one. As you can imagine, that didn't go quite as planned."

"No kidding,"

After much consideration, the Prime continued. "Which is why I will be reconsidering Jack as an appropriate partner for Smokescreen until he can act more mature and not draw the human children down any dark paths; The issue of him needing a suitable teacher still standing, and after what we have just seen, might I ask if you could be the one to teach him?"

"Me?"

Arcee counted reasons off her digits "You are more mature than Jack so you won't pull pranks like they did, You have more experience therefore you have more to teach, and you got that punk to listen better than we ever could,"

**(_And you lost your car in that tornado during the Unicron incident._)**

Bulkhead looked down at her with confusion. "Hey, yeah, how have you been getting around without your car?"

Catching on to what he meant since she didn't understand Bumblebee "I've been getting rides with Jack and Arcee or I walk. Thankfully it's a small town so I don't have to walk as far,"

"It's settled then, Smokescreen, front and center,"

Smokescreen got up and came to stand in front of everyone. "Smokescreen, due to recent events and the fact you are still lacking knowledge of Earth and human customs, you will be Nurse Darby's guardian for the time being. She will also be teaching you what you need to know to remain hidden from the human population and, to prevent what happened with Jack from repeating itself, I will be giving her the authority to tell you if you get out of line and I expect regular reports from both of you. Is that understood?"

June nodded her understanding "Yes Optimus,"

Smokescreen saluted "Optimus Prime, sir, I know I seriously fragged up last time, but I swear I will do better. Thank you for giving me second chance,"

"At ease, soldier. For now, I believe Nurse Darby should be heading home as it is late in the evening,"

Nodding, Smokescreen transformed into his vehicle mode and opened a door for her while she descended the stairs back to ground level.

"Hmm, already knows to hold the door for a lady, that's a start." She looked up at Arcee "You coming home tonight too?"

Arcee went rigid when she realized what this meant. "OH HELL NO! You mean we're going to have to…?"

Smokescreen chuckled "Guess this means we're roomies, huh, Arcee?"

Arcee growled at him before transforming and speeding out of the base.

"What? Was it something I said?"

June climbed in and fastened her seatbelt. "Let's just go, you can ask her about it when we get there,"

Smokescreen closed the door and was about to peel out of the base like he usually did… he got about nine feet before squealing to a stop.

"Just checking to see if the brakes work,"

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On the way back to the Darbys' house, after they got over the awkward silence the two got to know each other better; June told him about her work as a nurse and some of the things that happened with her and Jack in the past, Smokescreen told her about his family back on Cybertron, his training in the Elite Guard and how he went from guarding the Hall of Records to landing on Earth.

"…And I think Prime and the others might have told you the rest,"

Smokescreen pulled into the driveway and made his engine quieter so he wouldn't wake anyone and let Nurse Darby out.

"Thanks for the ride. Normally I park out here when Arcee's in the garbage but if that's a problem for you…"

"Don't worry about it, I'm fine. Arcee's probably still mad at me anyway so I think I'll just give her space for now,"

June grabbed her bag as she got out and gently shut the door. "Goodnight, Smokescreen,'

"G'night," Smokescreen used his proximity scanners to check the area for potential threats while his new Charge walked up to the door and let herself in before powering down for recharge.

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_The next morning_

June was running late for work and didn't have time to walk to the hospital. However, Arcee had already taken Jack to school so she would have to find another way. After locking the door and trotting down the drive, she spotted the blue and white sports car with red pin striping parked outside.

'_Well, this is just bittersweet; the very bot I'm supposed to be mad at is my new guardian,'_

Carefully walking up to the still vehicle "Smokescreen?" she gently patted his hood.

Smokescreen slowly powered up his systems and started to transform. "Hmm, huh? What?"

Seeing the disaster in the making, June tried to get him to settle down before anyone else saw. "Smokescreen, calm down, you can't transform here, someone will see you,"

Remembering where he was, the mech settled back down on his axels. "Oh, sorry, what did you need?"

"Well, if it isn't too much trouble, do you think you can give me a lift to work? Jack and Arcee already left,"

"Sure, hop in," he popped his door open, then June noticed something; Smokescreen was parked right in the middle of the driveway, how did Arcee get past him if she was in the garage?

Then she noticed the tire tracks on the lawn and the dirt and grass on Smokescreen on that side.

'_I told them not to drive on the lawn…' _"Hang on, you got grass on you," she wiped the worst of it off with her hand.

"Huh? How did that get…" he noticed the tire tracks and figured out what had happened, then he chuckled darkly. "I see how it is. Well, two can play at that game,"

June got in and stomped on the brake while she put her seatbelt on and shut the door.

"OW! What was that for?"

"Don't think I've forgotten the little prank spree you brought Jack on."

Smokescreen grumbled to himself. "It's not like anyone got hurt,"

"No, but those pranks you pulled that involved other people's vehicles count as vandalism, which is illegal."

"Really?"

"Really,"

Smokescreen hadn't realized it was that serious, he thought the others were just glitching because he wasn't all serious all the time. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that,"

June slowly pulled her foot off the pedal. "I guess that's one of the things Jack didn't get to teach you yet,"

Smokescreen rocked on his suspension, the closest thing he could get to a nod or a shrug while in vehicle mode, and slowly backed out into traffic.

"Well, if I'm going to teach you anything, first thing we need to do is see what you already know,"

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"Okay, turn signal here," June could see the sign for the hospital ahead.

"Are we turning here?"

"No, but we need to let other drivers know ahead of time so we don't cause an accident. We're turning at that sign that says "Outpatient and surgery entrance" so you might want to slow down so you don't…"

_SCREEEEECH!_

June screamed when they whipped around the turn and pulled up to the doors.

"Okay, here we are. Huh, so this is a human medical facility?"

June pressed her hand over her chest and took a few deep breaths to keep her heart from pounding its way out of her chest. Once she was able to breathe again, she grabbed her bag off the floor board. "Well, Smokescreen, for the most part you're doing pretty good, you just need to be a little more careful and less reckless,"

"Not bad, right?"

June smiled kindly "No worse than Jack was when he was still learning," That was almost a little _too _much like when Jack was learning to drive in her opinion.

"Awesome, you want me to pick you up later?"

June thought about it. "My shift gets done at ten tonight, if you're still available then, sure."

"Alright, what is your comm. frequency in case we need to contact each other?"

June reached into her pocket for her phone. "I don't have an actual comm. link, but Ratchet fixed mine and the children's phones so they were compatible with the Autobots comm. systems. My number is…"

She gave him the area code followed by the seven digits of her cell phone number, which he downloaded into his comm. systems and memory banks. "So what is your…?" She stopped when her phone buzzed with an unknown number on the Caller I.D. "Is that you?"

"Yep,"

She opened the phone and read the text that simply said. "Call me ; )" and put the phone away after saving the number in her contacts. "Alright, see you later,"

"Later," he opened the door for her.

She got out and gently closed it. "Thanks for the ride,"

"No problem," he waited until she was on the sidewalk before driving away. Out of habit she called after him "Drive safely," but he was already gone.

As she turned and walked up to the doors, she shook her head '_Between him and Jack, It's going to be like dealing with two teenage boys from now on, isn't it?'_

As Smokescreen drove back to base, he mentally smiled to himself. '_Maybe this whole "guardian" thing doesn't seem so bad, after all,'_

* * *

_**AN: Well, this is my first fic that isn't entirely G1 continuity. Although it might have a few G1 elements later. Catch any references? Comments, questions, suggestions and predictions are always welcome. Any flames will be converted into energon to be made into energon goodies for the nice people that review. Until next time…**_

_**Hugs and mugs,**_

_**Lady Quickshift**_


	2. Chapter 2

Where There Is Smoke

Chapter 2

Rated: T

Disclaimer: I own absolutely nothing except my OC's, please ask before using any part of them. If I did own Transformers nobot would die and I'd just spend all my time giving the bots washes and the 'Cons would be good guys with bad boy attitudes.

Knockout: Hmm, free washes, less work for me, and I still get Breakdown… Hasbro, GIVE HER TRANSFORMERS ALREADY!

Well, While Knockout's chasing Michael Bay with a power saw; let's check on the next chapter, shall we?

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

:comm. link:

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years.

* * *

Over the next few days, the Darbys and their 'Bots had fallen into their own little pattern, Arcee brought Jack to base and made sure he got to school and work on time, Smokescreen made sure June got to work and brought her to base whenever she had a chance to visit and both Cybertronians made sure their charges got home safely and tended to their other duties as Autobots when their humans were occupied. This pattern was only broken whenever one of them were needed back at base for something.

After a week of this, June was on one of her rare days off while Jack was at school with the other kids, Arcee had been bridged to another part of the world with Bumblebee to follow up on a lead as to where the next artifact might be, and Smokescreen was stuck in the driveway, pretending to be a non-sentient vehicle whose owner had nowhere to go, mostly because _he _had nowhere to go.

The recon Acree and Bumblebee were on was only a precaution as the 'Cons had been quiet as mice since Prime got the Star Saber, Ratchet and Prime were trying to decode the next coordinates, and Bulkhead was spending time with Miko.

'_Thank Primus for the internet'_ Cybertronian communication systems gave them constant access to the human internet, which Smokescreen was using to kill time by doing research about Earth and its people, listening to music , and he found an online version of that same racing game the kids were always playing at the base. Every once in a while, he scanned the area to check for threats and used his infrared scanners to check on his charge as she moved about her dwelling, cleaning house or just relaxing.

Sometime around early afternoon, June came outside wearing blue jeans and a green sweater, zipping her coat as she walked. "Hey, Smokescreen,"

"Hey, Nurse Darby,"

"Please, you can call me June if you want,"

"Okay… Hey, 'June-if-you-want',"

"Ha ha, Mr. Comedian, Think you could give me a lift to the super market? There's a cold front coming in and I need to get some things before it actually hits us,"

"Ok, sure," he opened the door for her and adjusted his heater to warm her once it was closed again before going to the store where June usually did her shopping, as it was the only grocery store in town, and asked a few questions about this "cold front" that was going to happen.

"…So there's a group of scientists whose jobs are to predict what the weather will be like?"

"Yep, and they're saying that tonight is going to be incredibly cold, so cold that if it wasn't so dry here it might actually snow." She patted the steering wheel gently. "Now, I know you and Arcee don't exactly get along but…"

"Now there's the understatement of the orn,"

"…_but _as cold as it is I don't want either of you outside tonight, unless one of you goes back to base you're going to have to share the garage." Smokescreen groaned like a small child that got told they had to go to the dentist. "Now don't give me that, I'm sorry, but I know there's enough room for both of you, even if it's a bit crowded, and if I see either of you outside tonight—and yes, I will be checking—I will call one of the bots back at base to come deal with both of you, Is that understood?"

Smokescreen sulked in defeat. "Yes, ma'am"

They pulled into the parking lot and Smokescreen went to park in a spot that that was close to the door but June stopped him and pointed out a blue sign next to that spot that said "Handicap parking" and explained what it meant. Understanding how wrong it would be to take a spot like that when someone might actually need it, he decided to find a different one, though he wasn't all too happy about circling the lot three more times before finding another spot.

While June went inside to get her things, back on the internet went Smokescreen, this time he checked a few forecast sites to see what the weather was actually going to be like. '_hmm, "temperature is about 46 degrees right now and will most likely drop as the evening progresses, with a sixty percent chance of perciptitation"…'_

_Twenty minutes later_

Smokescreen shuddered as it was, as the humans say, raining buckets of bone chilling rain and sent June a text telling her about this new development, grumbling to himself "_**Sixty percent chance my aft!**__"_

Finally, June came jogging out with a plastic bag on each arm and pretended to fumble with keys to make it look like she was actually the one driving.

"Forget about that, just get in!" Smokescreen popped the door open and hissed when the rain got all over the sensory panels on the inside of his door while she tried to shake the worst of the water off before climbing in. "You know the longer you're out there the wetter we both get, now get in before you let even more in," She climbed in and set her bags on the passenger seat.

"Sorry, if I get your seats wet,"

Smokescreen sighed, trying to calm down. "It's fine, my interior isn't the kind of material that is ruined by water." He pulled out of the lot and drove away, careful not to drive so fast he'd start hydroplaning. "Sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you like that,"

June looked at the dash, confused. "If it didn't matter if your seats got wet, why were you so worried about the rain getting in?"

"Because it was hitting the sensor nodes on my doors, Doorwings are incredibly sensitive, messing with those tends to give a bot migraines and messes with their sense of balance or direction."

Curious, June decided it was her turn to ask a few questions. "What else can doorwings do?"

"Well, I can kind of tell what's going on behind me, like if somebot tries to sneak up on me. I can sense vibrations like sound waves and earth tremors, although certain frequencies, like when Miko plays a _really_ screechy high pitched note on her guitar, tend to set them off; From what I'm told it's kind of like a human's 'Ears popping'. The wings themselves also project emotions and how a doorwinged mech is feeling"

"How so?"

"I'll explain later, when I'm not in vehicle mode. Basically, from what I'm told, Doorwings are a lot like the audio receptors of the canine species of this planet."

"You mean dog ears?"

"Yep, and only Praxians or those of Praxian heritage have them. Not a lot of us left though, since…" Smokescreen stopped talking; it still hurt to talk about it.

"Since the fall of Praxus?" Smokescreen squealed his brakes and got going again before anyone else on the road could give him trouble about the sudden stop. "How did you know about that?"

"When Jack and Arcee got back from Cybertron, the kids wanted to know what Cybertron was like before the war. Ratchet told us about Praxus, about how it was a beautiful place full of scholars and scientists and had the best law Enforcers on Cybertron and magnificent crystal gardens… and he told us what happened to it, but he was never specific."

Smokescreen was deathly quiet until they had gotten back to the Darby's place and pulled into the garage.

Thinking she had said something bad to him she reached for the door to let herself out…

"It was the first major attack of the war…" realizing he was telling her about that day, she sat back in the seat, not wanting to interrupt. "Megatron had just succeeded recruiting the Seekers in Vos, Praxus' sister city. Being as he had a formidable air force, he decided to show everyone how powerful it was… and what better way to do that than make an example of a city that was of no use to him and was just there to look pretty?"

"My older brother Prowl had just joined the Autobots as a tactician and was in Iacon at the time, while Carrier was at work and I was spending the day with my Sire in Polyhex visiting relatives and family-friends. My younger brother Bluestreak had just gotten upgraded into his Youngling frame and was resting at home with some of our neighbors watching him." Smokescreen shook violently until June got out and set her stuff down to check on him, only to turn back and see the bot curled up on his side in robot mode. She hit the button on the wall that closed the garage door before anyone saw inside and leaned against the wall to listen.

"By the time we went home, the whole city was just ruins, the only way we were able to find our house was by memory and the very faint life signal there. Prowl was allowed to come home on personal leave because of a family emergency, he was the one that actually pulled our baby brother from the wreckage." Smokescreen sniffled a bit. "We were so relieved to see he was ok, he was the only survivor in the whole city… but the trauma had messed with his processors, he didn't remember any of us and was scared to let anybot but Prowl near him. Prowl was the savior that pulled him from the wreckage, He was the miracle Youngling that survived the destruction and I was the nice youngling that gave him energon goodies to get him to play… his memories eventually came back but it was never the same…" Smokescreen was crying now, he tried not to but he couldn't stop himself.

June saw this and got a clean rag to wipe his tears, which from what Ratchet has told her was actually coolant, shushing him gently, maternal instinct taking over.

After he calmed down enough to keep his optics from leaking any more fluid, Smokescreen reset his optics and saw June wiping the last of the tear trails off his face plates. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know…"

"Don't be, it's not your fault," he carefully folded himself back into his alt. mode. "Just don't tell the others you saw that, okay? They'll never take me seriously if they knew I just broke down like that,"

"Your secret's safe with me. By the way, While I was in the store I got a call from Jack saying he and Arcee are waiting out the storm at Raf's new place so you have the garage to yourself until they get back," grabbing another old towel to dry him off with, she wiped off the worst of the rain water. "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Fine, thanks"

Smiling, June grabbed her bags off the ground and carried them inside. "I'll be in the house, if you need anything let me know. My phone is on so you can try that or do what Arcee does when she wakes Jack up and rev your engine really loudly,"

Smokescreen laughed, cocky and free spirited attitude back as if it never left. "Good night, June,"

"Goodnight, Smokescreen," June shut the lights off and closed the door behind her. Once in the kitchen she started putting the groceries away before running upstairs to change out of her wet clothes.

Smokescreen listened to the noises from the house as he powered down for a few hours recharge before Arcee got back, because there was no way he was going to be able to recharge in the same room as her.

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It was late at night before Jack and Arcee got home, the rain frozen on the ground, making the roads slick the drive on.

When she pulled into the driveway, Arcee saw that the door was closed and Smokescreen wasn't in the driveway, meaning he either went back to base for the night or he was inside. A quick scan showed the latter so she parked outside and let Jack off.

The boy shivered and pulled his jacket closer to him, silently thanking his mom for making him grab it that morning, as he stiffly dismounted "his motorcycle".

"You got your keys?"

Jack shoved his hands in his pockets to keep them warm and check them. "Yeah, let me just let you in the garage and…"

"Thanks but it looks like I'm staying out here tonight,"

Jack looked at her like she lost it. "Arcee, it is freezing out and it's only going to get colder…"

"Which is why you should get inside before you freeze,"

At the word "freeze", Jack immediately thought of how bad it was after the scraplet infestation, when Bumblebee carried her in while Ratchet and Bulkhead helped Optimus through the ground bridge, she was so still and covered in ice and snow just by looking at her one would think she had frozen to death.

"Arcee…"

"Goodnight, Jack"

"Arcee, I know you're still mad at Smokescreen but…"

"I said 'Goodnight',"

Taken aback by her clipped tone, he made his way over to the door and let himself in. Once inside he fixed himself some hot chocolate and put it in the microwave with the sound off so it wouldn't disturb his mother. While that heated up, he went into the garage through the side door and leaned against Smokescreen's hood, causing the engine to rumble softly as the mech roused himself out of recharge. "Oh, Hey, Jack, when did you get back?"

"A few minutes ago, Arcee's parked outside,"

"Isn't it a little cold out tonight?"

"Yeah, but you know how she gets…" they were quiet for a moment before Jack sighed and said.

"She says she's fine with it, but I'm a little worried about her being out in the cold after…" he told Smokescreen about the time she and Optimus nearly froze to death in the Arctic.

"Is she crazy? After something like that her systems are even more susceptible to cold climates, especially for a bot her size,"

"Good luck telling her that," he patted the sports car's hood with a quick "goodnight" before going inside to drink his warm beverage which not only seemed to be calling his name, it seemed like it hired an angelic choir to sing along.

Gathering up his wits, Smokescreen inched his way over to the closed garage door. "_**Arcee, Are you awake?"**_

Outside, Arcee gave up trying to stop shivering so she could recharge in favor of whisper-shouting back "_**Go to recharge, Smokescreen,"**_

Smokescreen tried to reason with her. "_**Arcee, please come inside, you'll freeze out there."**_

She huddled closer to the ground and growled at him. _**"Not while **__you__**'re in there,"**_

"_**Arcee, I promise I won't try anything, you stay on one side I'll stay on the other,"**_ Arcee bristled at the offered compromise, she was not used to sharing the garage—she had begun to think of it as _her _garage—and now the newbie comes and ruins everything…

"_**Fine, if you're going to be like that…"**_ Smokescreen sent a data burst that activated the automatic garage door opener and cautiously rolled outside, careful not to run into her. "_**You take the garage, **__I'll__** recharge on the curb,"**_ he silently drove over to the side of the road.

Arcee didn't know what he was trying to pull "_**Smokescreen, what are you…?"**_

"_**Don't worry, I'm not going anywhere. I just couldn't stand leaving you out in the cold while I stayed in your spot for the night," **_Smokescreen settled on his axles and scanned around one last time before powering down as Arcee watched, thinking.

Not two klicks after he powered down, Smokescreen felt something tap against his side. Remembering his original training, he scanned for threats before letting anyone know he was awake. After seeing no one was around but the Cybertronian signature beside him, he transformed to see the blue femme standing next to him.

She jerked her thumb towards the open garage door. "_**Stay on your side,"**_ and went inside and folded into her alt. mode.

Smokescreen transformed first and rolled in so he wouldn't disturb her in any way by transforming in the small space, finding she had drawn a chalk line down the middle of the floor. He snorted in amusement. '_Okay, that works,'_

They both powered down for recharge.

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The next morning, Jack came downstairs to get some breakfast and happened to look out the window to see the empty driveway. Not knowing what happened last night, he sighed '_Looks like I'm walking,'_ He went outside to check if his old bike was still where he left it under a tarp in the back yard, it was. After pushing it around the side of the house to the front, he went back inside to say goodbye to his mother. "Bye, Mom, see you later,"

"Okay, you and Arcee be careful,"

Jack threw on his back pack "Arcee already left, I'm riding my bike,"

June, dipping a tea bag in a mug of hot water, stopped mid-motion. "Already left?"

Jack grabbed his helmet in case he needed it later. "Yeah, I think she went back to base, she wouldn't go in the garage last night,"

"Oh, okay, be careful,"

"I will, Love you," he waved as he headed out the door.

"Love you too," June waved back and finished her tea before getting ready for work. After grabbing her bag and coat, she went out to the garage to ask Smokescreen for a ride to work and saw a surprising sight.

Smokescreen was parked on one side of the garage, Arcee on the other, both still in recharge. June noticed that by the way Arcee was propped up by her alt. mode's kick stand she was kind of leaning towards the other bot while they recharged, had they been a foot closer she would be leaning against him. It was kind of sweet, really, she almost didn't want to disturb them. "Morning you two,"

There was a slight hum as they both roused themselves from recharge. "Oh, hey, Morning June,"

"Morning, June, is Jack up yet?"

"Actually, Jack already left. He thought you left without him and took his bike,"

"WHAT? Why didn't he tell me?" She activated her holo-driver to drive out. Smokescreen rolled forward a bit to give her more room to back out, gently moving June out of the way with his door to make sure she didn't get knocked over by the temperamental cyclebot femme.

As soon as Arcee was out, she whipped around and made a beeline for the base.

June watched her go and turned to Smokescreen, who was doing the same thing with his scanners.

"Hope she not too mad at him,"

Smokescreen pulled back to where he was previously parked. "Yeah, I don't even think she's completely over what happened when we pulled all those pranks, and when he… What was the phrase he used? Pulled a 'Miko'?"

"Yeah, Miko's the one that usually follows bots through the ground bridge so she can take pictures of what happens on missions. Good thing she was helping Raf move or she would have done it that time too,"

"Yeah that would have made things worse. So, need a ride to work?"

"Yes, please,"

On the way to the hospital, June reminded him that they were supposed to give Prime their reports that day. He promised he would pick her up when she was on break and run her over to base to give hers and bring her back for the rest of her shift.

After dropping her off, he went back to base to give his report and complete his own shift of Autobot duties.

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_At Autobot Omega Outpost base_

Jack pulled up to the base and waited by the spot where the doors opened up and got out his cell phone; since he didn't have his own energy signature he would have to call the base and have someone let him in. Good thing they weren't mad at him anymore, though Ratchet still gave him the silent treatment more than usual and Prime was busy trying to find the next relic.

Just as he was about to dial the number, he heard the sound of squealing tires and a motorcycle engine and turned to see Arcee skid to a sliding stop and transform in front of him.

"Jack, where have you been?" she bristled. "I've been looking everywhere for you. When I woke up this morning you're mom said you already left,"

Jack put his phone away and got off the bike, leaning it against him. "Where have _I_ been? I thought you already came back to base and was going to meet you here,"

The blue femme noticed Jack was shivering so she sent a databurst that opened the secret door to let them in before the shivering boy got any colder. "It's a little cold out to be riding your bike, isn't it?"

Jack pushed said bike inside and walked it down the ramp "Not any colder than you," he hadn't meant anything crass by it, but she took it that way.

"Yeah, I get it, you found yourself a new bot that's fun to hang out with, while I'm the bitter overbearing joy-kill that's too hell-bent on fighting a war and taking my duties seriously that all I'm good for is keeping your sorry aft out of trouble,"

Jack put his bike in a spot next to the wall where it would be out of the way. "Arcee, that is not true and you know it," by now the others were aware of their rising voices and were trying not to stare as they argued.

"Is it? I swear, Jack Darby, ever since that punk showed up it's like I don't even know you anymore. I mean you were always so responsible and level-headed, now you're just…"

"BECAUSE I** HAD **TO BE THE RESPONSIBLE ONE!" Now the others were staring, even Prime, Jack had never raised his voice like that and it was starting to worry them.

"Ever since dad left, I have had to put on a brave face so mom wouldn't feel any worse than she already did, and as soon as I was the legal age to do so I got a job to help pay the bills and all that. When all this stuff with you, the 'Bots, the 'Cons, all started up, I was the one who had to make sure Miko and Raf were ok, mostly trying Miko out of trouble, so you guys wouldn't have to worry about it because you guys have enough to deal with."

Jack took a deep breath to calm down and tried again "When Smokescreen got here and we actually got to know each other, it was like having another teenage guy around, someone I could kind of relate to. Don't get me wrong Arcee, you're like the older sister I never had, but it's not the same as hanging around with other guys my age, and according to what I've been told about Cybertronian age groups Smokescreen and I are relatively close to the same age. I know this may sound selfish and I'm sorry for that and all the stupid stuff we did, but you have no idea how good it felt to be a sixteen year old boy again, even for a little while, and not have to be like a forty-something year old man all the fragging time!"

And now they all felt guilty, especially Arcee, they never knew he thought that way, they were too busy thrusting more responsibility onto him and getting after him when things didn't go as planned.

"I-I'm sorry, Jack. I didn't know…"

"No, I'm sorry; I should have said something,"

Miko climbed on the edge on the edge of the railing around the humans' little area and leaned over. "Why didn't you say anything before?"

"Well, I tried to after the incident with the Star Saber, but Arcee sent me straight home and when she talked to me the next day she was so busy ranting about how "stupid and irresponsible" we were and how "We could have been killed" I didn't get a word in. then you were all giving me the silent treatment so I couldn't,"

Bulkhead waved him off. "Ah, c'mon Jack, not all of us were mad at you. Personally, I was just shocked it was you and not Miko, but I got over it,"

** (_Yeah, me too!_)**

"Bee's not mad at you either," Raf smiled from where he sat watching T.V.

Ratchet made a disgruntled noise. "I guess the fiasco with the Star Saber was partially my fault, I thought since Miko wasn't here I wouldn't have to watch for human stowaways,"

"Hey!"

Jack noticed Miko was leaning too far and was starting to tip. "Miko, watch out…"

The girl screamed as her hand slipped and she fell. "Miko!" Bulkhead got up from where he was sitting on the other side of the room and hurried over but he wasn't fast enough. Miko closed her eyes and braced for impact… she heard the sound of engines, a Cybertronian transformation sequence and the sound of something metal scraping across the floor before landing on something hard. Slowly opening her eyes, she saw she was held in Cybertronian servos and looked up at the bot that caught her, expecting Bulkhead, but saw Smokescreen looking down at her.

"You okay?" he had just pulled in when he saw her fall and slid to catch her like a baseball player.

"Yeah," Smokescreen set her down on the ground where she stood with her hands on her knees to catch her breath while he got up. "Woo, that was close,"

Bulkhead came up and, after seeing his friend was unharmed, he smiled at Smokescreen "Nice catch, rookie," he thumped him on the back, making the smaller mech lurch forward, freezing for a moment with a grimace on his faceplates.

"Thanks," Smokescreen saw Prime and stood at attention. "Prime, I have my weekly report ready, whenever you want it,"

Keeping his features neutral, Optimus nodded "Understood, My office is right this way," he turned down the hall and gestured for him to follow, which the younger mech did automatically.

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Smokescreen stood in the Prime's office, trying not to shake from nervousness, as Optimus walked around to the other side of his desk. "_**Please, have a seat,"**_ he directed him to a set of chairs in front of the desk and the two mechs sat down. "_**Now, your report…"**_

"_**Oh, certainly, sir,"**_ Smokescreen pulled the datapad he had used to keep track of everything from that week out of his subspace and handed it to the Prime, who turned it on.

After reading through the content for a moment, he hooked it up to his computer terminal which copied the data onto its own file. "_**Anything you would like to add or comment on in your report Smokescreen?**_"

"_**Well, the other day a man that was driving recklessly kept tail gaiting me when I was giving Nurse Darby a ride home from work and almost ran into us. I was going to pull ahead and get away from him but she tapped my brakes and waved the guy around us because we were going the speed limit and he wasn't. He passed us but on his way by he threw something that shattered and splashed this foul-smelling liquid on my driver's side door and yelled some things that were inappropriate."**_

Optimus frowned; this was starting to sound like the other time Smokescreen almost got into a fight with a human driver. "_**And how did you react?"**_

"_**I was going to chase the guy down because he really torqued me off, but then she explained that the thing he threw at us was a "beer bottle" and that the man was drinking organic high grade, which I found out they call "Alcohol", even though it was illegal to do that and drive. So I took a different route, because I didn't want to put up with him after that."**_

"_**A wise decision, Smokescreen,"**_

"_**Thanks, I'm not sure if I actually got that in the report or not because once she was safely home I came to the base and used the wash racks to get the "alcohol" and bits of weirdly colored broken glass off of me," **_

Optimus Prime nodded. "_**Anything else?"**_

Smokescreen thought about it. "_**Nope, I think that's it,"**_

Prime nodded again and disconnected the datapad, since the data transfer was complete, and handed it back to his newest recruit. "_**Thank you, Smokescreen. That'll be all for now, I will await your updated report this time next week. In the meantime, you have patrol with Bulkhead this afternoon. Will Nurse Darby be giving her report today as well?"**_

"_**Yes, I'll get her when she is on break, which should be when I finish my patrol shift with Bulkhead,"**_

"_**Alright,"**_ Optimus leaned back in his chair in a more relaxed posture. "_**So, off the record, how are things?"**_

Smokescreen stared for a moment; here was Optimus Prime, the commander of the entire Autobot faction, asking him about how things were going, not as a commander but as a fellow Autobot.

"_**Uh, fine… how are you?" **_Smokescreen resisted the urge to face palm, he felt like such an idiot.

Optimus Prime smiled "_**That is good to hear, I am well, Thank you,"**_

"_**Sir, aren't you… mad at me?"**_

The smile faded "_**I am not, while I was disappointed in your actions with Jack, I have come to terms with the fact that what is done is done and all we can do is learn from it. You are dismissed,"**_

Smokescreen stood up "_**Thank you, sir,"**_ and walked out, leaving Prime alone with his work.

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Later, Smokescreen brought June to the base to give her report; June also brought some sandwiches for the kids and gave Jack a quick kiss on the cheek. Jack blushed and protested the fuss his mother was making over him, rescue came in the form of Arcee coming to take her to Prime's office to give her half of the weekly report on Smokescreen's progress.

As she walked away, Jack noticed Smokescreen was watching them with a weird look on his face plates, "Hey, Smokescreen, what's up?"

He looked away when he realized he was caught "Nothin'," he leaned against some piece of equipment to watch Raf and Miko play video games. Jack went over and sat in a chair that was close to the edge where he could watch too.

"So, how was last night?"

Smokescreen shrugged. "Eh, it was cold outside, good thing Arcee and I both recharged in the garage,"

Jack nearly fell off the chair. "Whoa, wait, you and Arcee _shared _the garage?"

Smokescreen held up his servos in a "Hold it right there" gesture. "Nothing happened, I swear to Primus nothing happened. It was just too cold to recharge outside, I was going to let her have the garage and deal with it if she really didn't want me there, but she drew a chalk line on the ground and she stayed on her side, I stayed on mine. That's it,"

"Hey, I believe you, just didn't think she changed her mind," Jack settled himself back on the chair. After a few minutes Smokescreen got an idea "Hey, want to go for a drive?"

"Where to?"

"Found this one place while on patrol, you want to go check it out? It's closer to town but it's still not that far from the base?"

Jack thought about it "Sure, but we'll need permission first,"

"Yeah, don't want anyone to freak out when they find us both gone," Jack went over to ask Arcee while Smokescreen went over to Ratchet. "Hey, Ratchet, anything happen yet?"

Ratchet didn't look up. "Everything seems quiet, for now anyway,"

"So, would it be alright if I took Jack out for a quick drive?"

The Medic-bot scoffed "Since when did you ask my permission for anything?"

Smokescreen kept his optics down "_**Ratchet… I-I'm sorry…**_"

Ratchet sighed and looked over his shoulder; Smokescreen could have sworn he almost saw a smile on the medic's lip components. "_**I know. Go on, just be careful out there**_," he gently waved him off before going back to his work.

Jack walked up to Arcee where she was drinking a cup of antifreeze with her energon ration. "Hey, Arcee, is it alright if I go for a drive with Smokescreen for a while?"

She traced the rim of her cup with her digit, looking at the pink fluid inside. "I don't know…"

"I promise we won't go far and we'll be careful,"

Arcee huffed teasingly. "Fine, go on, go talk about your 'guy stuff' I'm not supposed to know about," she playfully shooed him away.

"Thanks," he trotted over to Smokescreen who transformed and held his door open for him to hop in.

Arcee watched him go, Bulkhead elbowed her. "Ah, c'mon, 'Cee, He's not going to do anything stupid,"

"I know, it's just, I guess I'm having a hard time…"

Bulkhead understood "Now you know how I felt when Miko got all excited when he first got here. Did you notice he stopped to make sure Jack had his seatbelt on before he left, and he _didn't_ go tearing out of here like a mad man?"

Arcee's optics widened "We should have paired him with June the moment he got here,"

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_Meanwhile, in Prime's office_

June had just given her report to Prime—they had given her a special datapad that was the size of a notebook so she could hand it in the same way Smokescreen had—and now Prime was handing it back to her, though in his servos it was like a postage stamp.

"Anything else you wish to discuss, Nurse Darby? Has Smokescreen given you any trouble?"

June shook her head. "No, nothing more than can be expected from him, although last night…" not wanting to betray her guardian's trust, she left out what actually happened "Last night I found something out about him we might have over looked before,"

Prime leaned forward, inquisitive. "Apparently we have been overlooking many things lately. What did you find out?"

"While he may act like a swaggering big shot, I think that might be just a cover up to hide his own self-doubts. He just wants to be taken seriously, and from what I've heard from you, the kids and the other Autobots he has some talent and has good intentions, he just doesn't have any experience to go on like the rest of you,"

The bearer of the Matrix nodded somberly. "I have also seen Smokescreen's initial talent and while his intentions are admirable, he needs to learn that that alone won't always be enough and I fear that unless he learns to think his actions through the consequences may be disastrous. That is why we had Jack, and now you, teach him about the rules of this planet, in hopes of him also learning to become responsible while if we taught him ourselves if would just be a series of lectures from an alien perspective,"

"So, Jack and I were like a 'Flour sack' test?"

"Pardon?"

"When humans are at a certain level in their schooling they are given a sack of flour to carry around and pretend it is there 'child' to see how well they handled parenting. Were you also hoping by having Smokescreen learn from a human he would learn how to work with humans too?"

"That's… one way of looking at it," Optimus sat back. "Anything else you wish to talk about?"

She didn't so he lifted her down from his desk and held the door for her so she could leave.

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_With Smokescreen and Jack_

Smokescreen had brought Jack to a cave set in the side of the bluff where the two of them hid while trying to find him a vehicle mode; it was pretty well concealed so Jack hadn't noticed it before. As far as caves go it was a pretty awesome one, the entrance was sloped slightly downward but opened up into a wider cavern that went back far enough to go inside and explore but not far enough that is was easy to get lost in, it was about as wide as a small house and just the right height for Smokescreen to stand up in once he got inside.

Jack used his phone to light his way as he looked around while Smokescreen transformed and kept his headlights on—sure he had night vision, but Jack's phone wasn't exactly bright enough to see very well.—and followed him in.

"Okay, I'll admit it; this is a pretty sweet cave,"

"Yeah, found this place last time we were here, nice place to come to when you need time to think," Smokescreen sat on a rock and looked up at some strange rock structures hanging overhead, he checked the internet and found out they were called stalactites while stalagmites were the ones that poked out of the ground, but none of those had formed in this cave.

"Well, not all my experiences underground ended well,"

Smokescreen looked down and quirked an optic ridge at him "Like what?"

Jack sat on his own rock and thought "Well, let's see…" he told him about what happened in New York's subway tunnels and the time he and Miko and their bots got caught in that collapsed mine with Starscream and Megatron.

"Whoa, you mean you were that close to ending _Megatron_? And you just walked away?"

"Well, yeah, the guy was completely helpless; it would have been insult to injury if a human teenager did what countless Cybertronians have been trying to do for centuries,"

Smokescreen hummed and leaned back against the cave wall with his arm servos folded behind his helm, careful not to lean on his doorwings. "Jack, can I ask you something?"

"Shoot,"

"When I first drove into the base, I overheard you talking to Arcee about something…"

Jack face palmed "Ah, crap, how much did you hear?"

"Everything from 'BECAUSE I **HAD **TO BE THE RESPONSIBLE ONE!'" Smokescreen imitated Jack's voice so well it was almost scary. "Anyway, I overheard you say that your 'dad' left, what…?"

Jack rubbed the back of his neck, trying to figure out how to explain this to an alien species. "Well, usually humans have two parents, or Creators as Cybertronians call them, a mom and a dad. I don't know what the Cybertronian words for it are but the mom is the one who… bears the children while the dad… uh…"

Smokescreen got it. "Oh, you mean like a Carrier and a Sire?"

"Sure, let's go with that,'

It was quiet a moment before "Any idea why he left?"

Jack sighed and flopped onto his back so he was looking up at the sharp spires hanging over his head like demonic teeth that wanted to bite down on him. "The only reason I can come up with would be he got sick of us and left. All I know is I was old enough to remember him but too young to know why he just left and never came back,"

Smokescreen sat up and stared in shock. "You mean your Sire just left you and your mom, just like that?"

"Yep, slagger didn't even say goodbye, just left a note on the table for my mom,"

In a sudden burst of rage, Smokescreen got up and started pacing like a caged animal. "I can't believe anyone could do such a thing! Oh, if I ever see that fragger I'll…"

"Smokescreen…"

"What? I'm just saying… I know he's your Creator and all but he really shouldn't have done that. Did you know something like that was punishable by law on Cybertron?"

Jack gave him the same serious look he gave the Autobots when he told them his plan to hijack the space bridge to get to Cybertron. "Actually, I was going to say 'Get in line,' but if you really feel that strongly about it…"

They looked at each other for a minute and burst out laughing. "Oh Primus…"

"Yeah, good thing mom didn't hear us say that kind of thing or she'd be so mad at us,"

Smokescreen stopped laughing "Scrap, I still got to bring her back when her break's done." He transformed and let Jack in. "C'mon, we can always come back later," After making sure no one saw, he sped off to where the base was.

* * *

_**AN: many "thank you"s and energon goodies that reviewed and added this to your favorites and alerts: Nighlightbee, MasterSpecter, Ardent Aspen, Lil' Pup, Rose Jennison, Wolf Prime, thunder angel13, Dygen Entreri, Katie Gibbs, Ironbat77, DragonScouter, Searece, Blood Shifter2.**_

_**Sorry for any mistakes or if anyone seemed OOC, I don't have a Beta so I just proof read everything 5 or 6 times before I actually get the chapter up.**_

_**Questions, comments, suggestion and predictions are welcome; any flames will be converted into energon to make energon goodies for the nice people that review, until next time**_

_**Hugs and Mugs,**_

_**Lady Quickshift **_


	3. Chapter 3

Where There Is Smoke

Chapter 3

Rated

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's, though there were a few unnamed characters mentioned in the show, like Raf's family, I just needed to add some details to get them in the story too.

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

:comm. link:

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years.

* * *

After everyone got home that evening, June got a call from Raf's mom, Maria.

"Hello? Oh, hi Maria, did Raf make it home ok?"

Maria's Hispanic accent came through the phone "_Si, Raphael and Bumblebee both got home safely, they are out in the yard playing hide-and-seek with the other children,"_ the Escuivels had four children, Donavan was the oldest, followed by Carlos, Isabella and Raf was the youngest.

"_I was actually wondering if you, Jack, Miko would like to visit this weekend. Now that we are all settled in and Raphael has gotten his grades back up, Robert and I said he can have friends over," _

"I'm sure Jack would love to stop by, although the kids usually go to the base on the weekends,"

"_Oh, we have enough space now so the other Autobots can come too if they like, they are more than welcome to,"_

"Alright let me ask Smokescreen and Arcee if they want to come too," June took the cordless phone into the garage where Arcee was reclining against the wall in her bipedal mode, fiddling with something she found on the floor.

"Hey Arcee, where's Smokescreen?" June hadn't realized the sports car had left after he brought her home.

"He went for a drive, did you need something?" Arcee put her little thing-a-ma-bob back where she found it.

June held up the phone "I got Raf's mom on the phone, she's asking if we all want to come over this weekend,"

Arcee thought about it "Hmm, we'll have to ask Prime first, but as long as the 'Cons or _that idiot_ doesn't cause any trouble I don't see why not," her tone and the way she glared at the garage door made it clear which idiot she was talking about.

"Okay, I'll tell her," June relayed Arcee's response into the phone as she went back into the kitchen and said she'll ask Jack in the morning as it was late.

"_Alright, Raphael says he will ask Miko and Bulkhead when he gets to school tomorrow and Bumblebee is going to ask Prime and Ratchet when he goes to their base,"_

"Okay, that just leaves Smokescreen, I'll ask himin the morning, or when he gets back if I'm still up then,"

"_Alright, Hasta luego, June,"_

"Ok, Bye Maria,"

Just as she hung up, June heard a familiar engine and screeching tires in the driveway.

Going back out to let Smokescreen into the garage, she saw Arcee transform and move herself back to where she was the night before as the silver sports car came rolling in. "Hey, Smokescreen,"

Smokescreen halted "Oh, hey June, didn't think you were still up,"

June leaned against the wall like she did when Jack tried to sneak into the garage after curfew with Arcee before she found out about the Autobots and grounded him. "I just got off the phone with Raf's mom. Where were you?"

"Just… driving around town,"

June crossed her arms "Smokescreen, I know I don't have the authority to assign punishment detail but I'm going to tell you the same thing I told Jack when he got his license; If I ever catch you anywhere near those street races some of the local kids have, let alone actually in one…"

"There's street racing around here?" then Smokescreen realized he sounded a little too excited about that and reset his vocalizer. "Ahem, you were saying?"

"Well, Raf's mom invited us all over to their place this weekend, would you want to go?"

Smokescreen thought a moment "You know what, I don't think I've actually seen Raf since I first got here, sure I'll go,"

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_That Weekend_

In the end they all ended up going to see Raf's new place and since no one but 'Bee and Raf knew where it was they were all going to rendezvous at the base that Saturday and head out together.

After everyone met at the base that afternoon, the humans all brought picnic stuff, they followed Bumblebee and Raf to the Escuivel's place.

Since they couldn't relocate his family without telling them why, they had to tell them about the Autobots. Thankfully, 'Bee was all the proof they needed and they were very accepting about it. They hadn't met the others yet but Miko and Raf showed them pictures and told them stories and they were happy to get to know the cheerful yellow scout in the meantime.

The Escuivel's new home was a small farm just outside of Jasper, once they got there the humans all got out and looked around; there was a pretty plain looking farm house, a big red barn and a couple of out buildings, one was even big enough to fit all the Autobots inside, and it had plenty of land surrounding it and the whole area was surrounded by thick woods.

Raf climbed out of Bumblebee just as his sister came running out to them while his brothers helped his mom set plastic covered bowls and dishes out on a folding table next to the side of the house. June and Miko set what they brought with on the table while Jack stayed with Raf so the two could catch up. After a few minutes, they noticed Isabella was watching the strange vehicles nervously.

After everything was set up, the Esquivels came over and looked the Autobots' alt. modes over, who looked right back in their own way.

Maria stepped up first "Hola, My name is Maria. We have heard a lot about you from Raphael. It's alright, you don't have to hide here, this place is well hidden so no one can see you if you want to walk around for a while."

Since they were out of public view and everyone there has clearance to see them, the bots actually were allowed to transform and mingle with the humans in robot mode. After scanning around to make sure they weren't in danger of being spotted, or just in danger, The Autobots started to transform.

**(_Easy, we don't want to startle them, they're still not used to us,_)** Bumblebee warned them.

Prime agreed and told them to transform one at a time, Bumblebee first since they knew him.

Too late, Smokescreen didn't see why they had to take it slow and just shot right up into his bipedal mode the same time Bumblebee did. "Hi, Kids!" The boys were impressed but Isabella immediately turned and ran to the barn and hid inside.

Raf ran after her "Izzy, wait, it's okay, they're not going to hurt you,"

Bumblebee shoved Smokescreen aside and buzzed at him. **(_Smokescreen, you scared her,_)** and trotted after his charge.

Prime slowly unfolded so he was kneeling in front of the remaining humans. "I am sorry your daughter was frightened, our newest recruit still has a lot to learn about dealing with humans,"

Maria held up her hand dismissively. "No, she's always been shy, the fact she came out here to meet you in the first place was surprising,"

_By the barn_

Raf stood outside the stall his sister had hid herself inside. "Izzy, come on out, Smokescreen didn't mean anything by it, he just gets over excited about things,"

Bumblebee pushed the double doors open and, folding his doorwings down, crawled inside to see the girl curled up in the straw and beeped to her until she looked up and saw his big blue optics looking down at her.

**(_Izzy, I promise nothing bad is going to happen. I'll be right with you, so will your mama, your dad and your brothers and I'm pretty sure my family won't let anything happen to you. Why don't you come out and meet them?)**_

She looked at Raf to tell him she couldn't understand and he translated for her. " 'Bee says he promises nothing bad will happen to you, those other bots out there are his family and he wants you to meet them,"

Izzy sniffed and slowly crawled out of the stall and shook the bits of dried grass off of her before following her brother out. Bumblebee crawled back out to let them through, squeaking when he hit his helm on the way out.

Once the three of them came back, Smokescreen slowly knelt down to her level. "Hey, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you like that, the name's Smokescreen. What's yours?"

Isabella gulped and looked up at him "I'm Isabella, but everyone calls me Izzy,"

Smokescreen smiled "Nice to meet you, Izzy," Izzy slowly smiled back.

After that introductions were made as each of the bots transformed one by one.

Bulkhead went next, slowly unfolding out of his vehicle mode and into kneeling position. "Hey kids, I'm Bulkhead,"

One of Raf's brothers, the taller one with a denim jacket over a plain blue t-shirt and jeans on held up his hand with a slight wave. "Hey, I'm Donavan, but everyone calls me Don,"

"I'm Carlos," the slightly shorter boy that was wearing jeans and a Jasper High letterman's jacket piped up.

Arcee transformed crouching down, like when she met Jack. "I'm Arcee,"

Don grabbed Carlos' arm and shook him. "Dude, it's that hot biker babe that's always parked outside the school when class gets done,"

Carlos shoved his brother off of him. "Dude, I wouldn't know that because I always have practice after school, you're the one that's always trying to get pictures of her on your phone,"

Arcee coughed into her fist to hide the blush forming in the corners of her optics, the fact that she and everyone else could hear everything the boys were stage-whispering just made things awkward.

Optimus spoke up again. "In the event I have not already introduced myself, I am Optimus Prime,"

He looked over at Ratchet, who just sat off to the side. "_**Ratchet, Don't be rude,**_"

Ratchet transformed and stood with his arm-servos crossed, pretending to not care what the humans thought. "Hello,"

Jack gave the Esquivels an apologetic look. "Uh, that's Ratchet, he's really not that bad… Once you get to know him,"

"He's just a grouch most of the time," Miko bounced over to stand next to Bulkhead, ignoring Ratchet grumbling at her.

"I'm Robert, pleasure to meet you," Raf's dad held a hand out, then pulled it back when he saw how pointless the gesture was with giant alien robots.

After that they all went about their business; Prime and Ratchet talked with the adults—the bots sat on the ground while the humans sat on folding chairs—and Bumblebee, Smokescreen and Bulkhead played with the children while Arcee watched from a safe distance away to make sure things didn't get out of hand.

The kids were trying to teach the bots how to play tag, Bulkhead had gotten caught by Miko after she volunteered to go first so now he was lumbering around trying to tag someone without hurting the humans.

Izzy hid behind Bumblebee, who pretended to not know she was back there but was still careful not to step on her so she could hide from the former Wrecker as he stumbled about trying to catch Miko, who was running around like the itty bitty Energizer bunny from hell.

Smokescreen pulled Carlos to the side "Hey, I heard you say earlier that you have 'practice' after school every day. What do you practice?"

Carlos smirked proudly "I'm on the wrestling team at school. We always train real hard even though we don't ever make it to any championships or anything like that,"

"Wrestling? You mean like those humans on TV that pretend to fight each other over a really big belt?"

Carlos waved him off "No, man, the stuff on TV is staged. We do it for real and actually fight the other guys,"

This got Smokescreen's attention "So… what do you do on wrestling team?"

He looked over and saw Jack stopping to catch his breath and grinned. "Here, I'll show you," he ran over and tackled Jack to the ground with a move called a _floatover, _using his momentum to bring them both to the ground, and pinned the other teen down with his legs.

Jack made a high pitched wheezing noise as he hit the ground, hard.

Arcee came over to split them up and ended up being the referee, physically pulling the two teens apart and demanding to know what was going on.

Maria came over and put her hands on her hips. "Carlos Esquivel, what did I say about rough-housing like that?"

Carlos looked at the ground guiltily. "Sorry, mama, but Smokescreen wanted me to show him a wrestling move,"

Arcee growled and slowly turned her helm towards the white mech. "_**Smokescreen…" **_Then she looked at Carlos, her body subtly positioning to strike. "By the way, your elbows were too far apart. It'll be easier to execute that move if you keep them closer to you, like _this!"_

She imitated the move and caught Smokescreen off guard, sending the bigger bot to the dirt. "Otherwise you're relying too much on brute force and not enough on leverage, you'll end up injuring yourself like that,"

"Could you get off me, please?" Smokescreen's voice was muffled by the ground he was pressed against.

Then Robert called all the humans over for lunch and they all went over to food table where each got a paper plate and helped themselves. Maria looked up at the bots. "Would you all like something?"

"No thank you, we got our fuel rations before we came here," Arcee rolled off of Smokescreen when he tried to flip her over to switch their positions and both bots got to their peds.

Bulkhead came up to them "_**Well, now what?**_"

Bumblebee thought of something. **(_Maria said I could use some spare parts from that junk pile out back to make a lob ball, want to help?_)***

"_**Sure, 'Bee,"**_ Bumblebee lead them to a small pile that consisted of old scrap metal, a couple of old tires—some were unusually large, possibly from old farm equipment—some old fence posts and various other unidentifiable odds and ends.

"_**Okay, where do we start?"**_

Bulkhead went sifting through the pile and inspected a few things. "_**Well, there's a lot of metal here, but not enough of it can be bent into the shape we need**_,"

"_**What about these?"**_ Arcee picked up an old tractor tire and bounced it on the ground.

Bumblebee bounced another tire and leaned on it, satisfied with how it bent under his weight but didn't break. **(_Hey,_ _These could work, and they bounce so there won't be as much damage if it hits something,_)**

"_**But how do we get it into a ball?"**_ Bulkhead took the two tires and tried forcing one into the opening in the other until it broke.

Arcee groaned "_**Nice going Bulkhead,"**_

Smokescreen found another broken tire and thought of something. "_**Hold on, I think he's on to something,**_" he took the two tires from Bulkhead and arranged them a certain way then added the pieces he just found. "_**Yeah, this could work…**_"

Now they were all huddled around the wad of black rubber. "_**Okay, now we know how to get it in the right shape, but will it stay like that?**_"

Smokescreen let go and the pieces all fell apart with a pathetic _flop_ on the ground. "_**Well, that's not going to work,**_" then he spotted Ratchet standing next to Prime who was talking to the humans as they ate. "_**But I think I know something that might. Be right back,"**_ he went over to Ratchet.

Ratchet tried to socialize with the humans, but he was both intrigued and slightly disturbed by what they were actively consuming. "So, uh, what is that you are… um," he tried to remember the human word. "… eating?"

Miko mumbled something incomprehensible around mouthfuls of food, causing the medic to flinch in disgust.

June handed her a napkin and Jack tried to explain the concept of food to the Cybertronian. "Well, let's see… I'm having some of the mac-and-cheese me and mom brought, Miko's already scarfed half her food so I don't know what she had, everyone has something different,"

"Hmm, doesn't look all that appetizing to me,"

Optimus elbowed him gently. "That may be so, Ratchet, but to each one's own. They like it and since they are not as limited as we are in the matter of fuel they are less likely to have the same famish shortage we have had in energon supply,"

"So, is there only one kind of this 'energon' stuff or is there a bunch of different kinds?" Don heard about energon from Raf but no one ever explained what it was.

Ratchet was actually happy to tell him. "Actually no, on Cybertron not only did each city had its own method of processing it, there were different quality grades; such as Low grade, Mid-grade, High grade, medical grade. Additives can also be added to them for extra nutrition or flavor, the list of combinations goes on and on…"

Saving everyone from the impending lecture Jack asked a simple question. "So out of all the different types, what's your favorite one?"

Ratchet thought about it "Out of all the types I've tried? I would say Praxian High grade,"

"Is it good?"

Ratchet snorted "Naturally, it had this sweet taste with a cooled and tangy after taste, with all the 'buzzed' feel that high grade gives a bot." he had that for away look he always gets when he talks about Cybertron.

"Hey, Ratchet!"

Ratchet jumped when Smokescreen came up and put an arm-servo around him. "What do you want Smokescreen?"

"Can we borrow a blow torch?"

Ratchet twisted around and glared suspiciously. "And why… in the Allspark… would _you _need a blow torch?"

Smokescreen jerked his thumb in the direction he just came. "We're trying to make a lob ball out of…"

Ratchet shoved the younger mech off of him. "Oh, no, not here you don't! We are lucky this place is far enough away from the human populace that we can even be in robot mode and even _that _is a security risk. We do not need to draw unneeded attention to ourselves by throwing a giant metal ball around,"

"But…"

The medic waved him off. "Yep-ap-ap, the answer is no,"

Smokescreen huffed. "Fine," he crossed his servos across his chest plates and sulked off.

Bulkhead looked up when he heard Smokescreen stomping up to them. "_**Did you get it?"**_

Smokescreen sat down in his vacated spot in the group huddle. "_**Hmpf, Ratchet's being a grouch…"**_

Arcee rolled her optics. "_**Well, that's Ratchet for you…" **_Anymore snide remarks from her were stopped when Smokescreen smiled and held out the handheld blowtorch he was hiding in his servos.

"_**We better hurry up and use this before he realizes I snatched it from him when he wasn't looking,**_" he winked and ignited a small flame to solder the pieces of rubber together.

The other three were just confused. "_**But… When? How did you?"**_

Smokescreen blew on a spot of melted rubber to help it fuse more quickly. "_**Both my Creators are medics, and one of the things I learned from them was that all medics always carry a spare torch in a subspace on their right hip,"**_

Arcee looked at him like she wasn't sure she heard right. "_**Wait, **__both __**of your Creators are medics?" **_

Not even looking up from his task, Smokescreen nodded. "_**Well, My Carrier was always one, he operated a clinic that helped bots of every class and occupation. Sire started out a sniper, best one in the Autobot military until my brother caught up, and got medical training from Carrier.**_"

Then his face plates got this sad look about them _**"Then I went to the Academy, turned out my Carrier had been recruited as head medic there and asked me to pretend to not know him so we could keep things professional, which we did until I got sent to the Hall of records. I think I told you the rest,"**_

Bumblebee hummed his sympathy **(_That sucks,_)**

"_**Ah, it's not all bad, I know they're both alive, and my brothers too, I just haven't been able to find them all yet,"**_

Bulkhead clapped him on the shoulder. "_**Hey, don't worry about it, kid, if they're out there somewhere, you'll find them eventually," **_

Arcee helped him hold the tires in place as the melted rubber sealed while it cooled. "_**It's a smaller universe than you think,"**_

Smokescreen smiled at his team mates. "_**Thanks guys, that… really means a lot,"**_ he tried to reach for an intact tire to help support the shape more but couldn't reach without letting go of the pieces he was trying to hold together. "_**Hey, could somebot hand me that piece over there? The one next to Bulkhead,"**_

Bulkhead tried turning around to see. "_**Huh, where?**_" he twisted around until he started to lean back.

"_**That one right there, careful, don't…"**__ Pow!_ Bulkhead fell back on the old tire and demolished it. "_**Bulkhead, I needed that!"**_ Smokescreen didn't even realize what he hissed at the green mech, it just slipped out.

All the other bots looked at him with the same looks they gave Ratchet when he made that comment about humans when he heard Prime was going to assign Smokescreen a human partner.

"_**Uh, Smokescreen, you ok? You're starting to sound like Ratchet,**_"

Smokescreen face palmed. "_**Primus, he must be rubbing off on me. Better give him his torch back before it gets any worse,"**_

The four of them worked together; Smokescreen and Bulkhead, being the ones that knew the most about using a torch for such jobs, took turns using the welder and holding pieces together while Arcee and Bumblebee found more pieces and cut them into desired shapes when necessary.

Finally they had an oddly-shaped ball made of tire rubber. After making sure the seams were cool, Bumblebee picked it up and bounced it. **(_Hey, it works!_)**

"_**C'mon, let's go try it out,"**_

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The humans had just finished eating and were either going back for seconds or digesting what they just ate when the bots came out from behind a shed.

"Hey, Bumblebee, go long!" Bulkhead held up a giant black ball of intertwined tire rubber, poised to throw.

The yellow Scout ran out to catch as the ex-Wrecker heaved it, the force of the throw pushing him back several feet, leaving scuffs in the ground. **(_Got it! Arcee, catch,_)**

The kids threw their plates in a trash can and ran over to the bots excitedly while Arcee caught the ball and chucked it back at Bumblebee.

The kids found a spot where they could be close enough to watch, but still be a safe distance away, on a nice grassy patch beneath some trees.

"What are they doing, playing extreme catch?" Don watched the ball go back and forth.

Jack repeated what Arcee told him when Bulkhead lobbed with Wheeljack. "It's called lobbing. Used to be a favorite pastime back on Cybertron, especially with the warrior class,"

"Cool,"

The bots had begun to spread out and run around to get the ball and throw it at the next person and, as always, Smokescreen had let himself get so focused on what he was doing he let everything else fade away. Well, _almost _everything; there was someone he had been trying to impress since day one, and he kept checking with his peripheral vision to see if they were watching…

"Smokescreen, Look out!" he looked too long and got beaned by the ball. To make matters worse, Bulkhead had thrown it, sending him flying back to crash into the tree line.

Ratchet saw this and excused himself from where Prime and the humans were and came jogging over to make sure the mech wasn't injured, grumbling "_**Hopefully he finally knocked some sense into that kid,"**_

Ratchet knelt next to Smokescreen and examined him for injuries. Smokescreen stirred groggily "_**No, Carrier, I don't want to go to Academy. They'll shove my helm in the waste disposal unit again…"**_

Ratchet gave him a weird look and patted his cheek plate to try to wake him up "Smokescreen, wake up,"

Smokescreen's systems rebooted and he onlined his optics to see everyone standing over him.

Holding his helm with one servo, he slowly sat up, groaning "Primus, what hit me?"

"Bulkhead's wicked lobbing skills," Miko piped up from her perch on said mech's shoulder.

Bulkhead rubbed the back of his helm "Uh, sorry Smokescreen, you ok kid?"

Smokescreen rubbed his helm and let his servos fall into his lap "Yeah, I'll be okay," in his processors he was chanting '_stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid…' _in the most scolding tone he could muster while Ratchet got out a small light "Alright, Smokescreen, follow the light…" then something fell out from the little hiding spot between Smokescreen's doorwings.

Ratchet picked up the handheld torch and reattached it to his hip "I was wondering where that got to…"

Smokescreen winced, the medic _knew _Smokescreen took the welder but didn't say anything.

After making sure Smokescreen was alright the bots all decided to get back to their game while the humans went back to where they were sitting. Smokescreen picked up the ball and looked over at the two older bots "Hey, Prime, Ratchet, you guys want to play too?" he tossed up the ball and caught it experimentally_._

Ratchet rolled his optics and walked over to where the humans were sitting and sat down with his back against the tree they were sitting under.

Optimus held up his servo "No thank you, Smokescreen, you four go ahead and enjoy yourselves," The Prime went back to where the human adults were sitting and resumed their conversation.

Just then, Jack looked around, realizing something was missing "Hey, where did Miko go?"

The bots looked around to see if they accidently stepped on her and didn't realize it. Smokescreen was still tossing the ball between his servos when he heard a noise inside of it and peered between the strips of rubber. "What the…" Sure enough, there was the missing girl. "Miko, how did you get in there?"

Miko smiled up at him "I climbed in between the tires. This is so cool, it's like one of those giant rubber balls you climb inside and roll around in,"

Smokescreen set the ball on the ground "Alright, Miko, come on out of there,"

The girl groaned and crawled out grumbling "Can't go to Cybertron, can't ride around in the giant rubber wrecking ball…" she crossed her arms and pouted the whole way to where the others were sitting where she flopped down in the grassed with a "humpf".

The rest of the day passed without too much more incident until that evening when everyone decided it was time to head home. Jack, June, Miko and the 'Bots thanked the Esquivels for their hospitality and drove to their respective residencies.

At the Darby's house, Smokescreen pulled into the garage as close to the door leading into the house as he could without running into anything so June could carry in large Tupperware container that contained what was left of the mac and cheese they had brought and so Arcee could pull in alongside him to let Jack off.

Once everyone said their goodnights and the humans went inside, Jack hit the switch to close the garage door on his way in.

Before it could close all the way, Smokescreen sent a databurst to open it back up again and started to back out of the garage.

Arcee saw this and was confused "_**Smokescreen, where are you going?"**_

Smokescreen answered in his usual bravado-laced tone. "_**I'm going to let you have the garage tonight, it's not as cold as it has been,"**_ they had been sharing the garage for the past few nights like they did before and Smokescreen could tell the cyclebot femme was uncomfortable with it.

However, unlike before, Arcee now felt like a glitch that was forcing him out and was guilty about it.

Smokescreen stopped moving when he heard the sounds of a Cybertronian transformation sequence and felt a small delicate servo grasp his front fender. Shifting his scanners towards the owner of said sero, he saw Arcee's pink rimmed blue optics glowing in the dark of the garage.

"_**One more night in the same garage isn't going to kill us, would it?"**_

If Smokescreen were in robot mode he would have smiled at her as he slowly rolled back into the garage and sent another databurst to close the door while she transformed back into her alt. mode.

Both of them powered down for the night, to dream of memories they would rather not have lived.

* * *

_**AN: many thanks to everyone that has read this for their continued support, and the readers that are new to the story; Kaleia, Imaginator-Creator, Autobot-Blurr 221, GlitchGirl23; Dragons Redemption, Katie Gibbs, female transformer toa, Vindicated Skies, firebird234 , Princess Lena aka Lady Kittuna, Lightning Streak, Nightwhisper184, LuisJm, Steelracer01956SIC, LadyBonBon, meerkat4,becky199756, I'm Yu, keacdragon, star's dreams, Alc Fluteo, Draconia Snowmantle-Snape, DuskWolfAtDawn, Celestial-Kitsunei, RodimusPrime12,**_

_**I also got a Guest review asking "Why is Arcee still acting like a bitch?" she's not, at least in my opinion; I've seen people act WAY bitchier than she does. Also she actually has a reason, which I'll get to in a later chapter, in the meantime…**_

_**Hugs and Mugs,**_

_**Lady Quickshift**_


	4. Chapter 4

Where there is Smoke

Chapter 4

Rated T for language, flashbacks of character death, and anything else I might have missed.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but any of my OC's that get included here.

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

:comm. link:

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years.

* * *

Both of them powered down for the night, to dream of memories they would rather not have lived…

_Smokescreens P.O.V._

I woke up inside the escape pod, it wouldn't open so I blasted my way out, Only to find I was on a strange organic planet. I'd never seen an organic planet before. I left the area before any 'Cons showed up but stopped when I heard blaster fire near the pod. After running a scan I found that most of the readings were Decepticons, but some were Autobots, one energy signature was achingly familiar. The gentle pull on my spark confirmed it, my Carrier was nearby, and it sounded like he was in trouble.

Rushing back to the scene, I found my Carrier pinned by heavy laser fire, along with a yellow bot with doorwings, a big blue and red mech, and a navy blue femme I recognized from somewhere but I couldn't quite place it.

Getting my blaster out, I charged onto the scene, firing a few shots at the 'Cons. The femme and the yellow mech stopped to look around to see where the shots came from and spotted me. Thinking I was another 'Con they turned their blasters

on me.

"_**Down in front!" **_they ducked as I jumped over them and shot at any 'Con that came within range, until a stray shot hit the energon spilled by the pod, causing an explosion.

In an attempt to save face, I acted like that was my plan all along, but the femme saw right through the ruse and called me out on it.

I turned to my Carrier and tried to say something to him but was stopped by him saying something through the Bond. (Smokescreen, as good as it is to see you, I ask that you don't tell anyone we are related just yet. I'll explain later but right now just go with it, please.)

Before I could say anything, the red-and-blue mech—who turned out to be Optimus Prime, of all bots—approached me in all his Prime glory to thank him for his help. After that I was too busy geeking out about the fact that the Prime was right there in front of me to say anything coherent for a few minutes, until I remembered why the femme, who was introduced as Arcee, looked so familiar.

*_Flashback*_

_A younger Smokescreen hid behind a wall and peeked around it to see a younger Arcee sitting on a bench and hid again before she saw him. '_Okay, Smokey, you can do this, just walk over and say hi. If she still wants to talk, just go with it,'_ he cycled air threw his vents and gathered his courage '_Okay, here goes nothing,'_ he left his hiding spot and made his way over to the bench and sat on the other end of it from her. "__**Uh… hi, I'm Smokescreen, what's your designation?"**_

_She acted nervous, like she suddenly wanted to be somewhere else. "__**Um, Arcee…" **__she pulled at the brace on her servo._

_Smokescreen rubbed his helm sheepishly. "__**Listen, I-I'm sorry about…"**_

"_**Uh, I'd better go…"**__She slid off the bench and walked away quickly._

_*end flashback*_

I was brought out of my musings by the Prime asking for my name, I saluted and introduced myself. Optimus Prime smiled and held out his servo. "_**Welcome to Earth, Smokescreen,"**_

I grasped his servo and shook it, a little too eagerly. "_**It's an honor to be here, especially with you,"**_ What I meant was with the team, but since I didn't say "_**all of you**_", everyone thought I was just happy to be with the Prime.

_Regular P.O.V_

Smokescreen slowly brought himself out of recharge, still kicking himself for the events that happened in that memory purge. '_Stupid, stupid, stupid…'_

After a few klicks, he realized it was still _way _too early to be waking up—around two in the morning—and scanned around to try to figure out what woke him. The answer was in the garage next to him.

_Arcee's P.O.V._

I ran through the dark woods, franticly looking for someone. Seeing light come through the gaps in the trees I ran towards the clearing, hoping—no, praying—that whoever I was looking for would be there… and that I wasn't too late.

As soon as I burst out of the tree line I saw I wasn't on Earth anymore, I was on the bridge of the _Nemesis_.

Chained to a wall was my old partner, Tailgate, and Airachnid was pacing in front of him with her spider leg appendages poised to strike as she questioned him, asking the same questions that the spider femme asked me way back when.

Up on the command deck was my other old partner, Cliffjumper, covered in injuires and being held down on his knees by a Vehicon on each side at Starscream's feet.

And in the center of the room, in a giant glass pod, was Jack. A trio of Insecticons surrounded the cage, rattling it like they were trying to get to the boy but didn't know how to open it.

Over on their side of the room, Airachnid decided she was done toying with Tailgate. "_**Just tell me what I want to know or… well, you're a smart bot. I think you can imagine what happens…**_"

Tailgate said nothing so she drew back her sharp-tipped appendage and lanced it right into his spark chamber, splattering the walls with energon.

"_**NO! TAILGATE!"**_ I screamed but no sound came out.

Up on the command deck, Cliffjumper coughed up energon and smirked up at Starscream. "_**Hey, 'Scream, It's been a while. Where's your Master?"**_

Starscream growled and roared "_**NEVER MIND HIM! I AM MY OWN MASTER!"**_ he plunged his claws right through the smaller bot's spark chamber. "_**Any more questions?"**_

Cliffjumper looked down to see energon seeping out of him before falling face down onto the deck.

"_**NO! CLIFF!"**_ again no sound came out when I screamed.

Then the two killers turned to look at Jack, who was banging his fists on the container he was in to try to break free.

Starscream ran one of his claws across the plex, making Jack stop to cover his ears to block out the screeching sound it made. "_**Now, then, what do we do with this little human?"**_

Airachnid smiled that deceptively sweet smile of hers "_**I think we should let my minions have him. Go on, my pets, enjoy,"**_ she emitted a high pitched buzzing sound by rattling her appendages, which was mirrored by the Insecticon's antennae and mandibles as they crowded in closer to the jar, clicking their mandibles together and…

_Regular P.O.V._

Smokescreen looked over to see that Arcee had suddenly reverted back to her robot mode and was thrashing around in her recharge. _**"Acree, what's…"**_

"… _**No… Tailgate…"**_

At first Smokescreen thought she was awake but then he saw her optics were offline and their shutters closed tight while her faceplates contorted with distress.

"_**Arcee, Are you okay?"**_

She didn't seem to hear him, she just thrashed around and talked in her sleep. "_**… No… Cliff…"**_

_Cliff?_ Then Smokescreen remembered; He had seen in the base's records that Cliffjumper was a member of Team Prime and according to the others he and Arcee were close before…

'_Oh scrap, she's having a night terror…_' and that's when things really let loose.

Arcee's struggles increased ten-fold and she started screaming. "_**NO… JACK, RUN! ... RUN!"**_

Remembering what to do for someone who has a night terror this bad, Smokescreen carefully transformed in the cramped space and gently pulled her close to him and held her against him—careful not to get her little winglets caught between their bodies—with his arms wrapped around her under her arms so her flailing limbs couldn't reach him and held her still so she wouldn't hurt herself.

"_**NO… NO, PLEASE!"**_

Smokescreen held her tighter and tried to wake her up. "_**Arcee, wake up! You're having a night terror. WAKE UP!"**_

Slowly, gradually, Arcee's movements slowed to violent tremors which also faded away until she went still. Smokescreen didn't allow himself a sigh of relief until he saw her optics light up.

Arcee brought her systems online and felt strong arm servos wrapped around her, pressing her against a warm chassis, judging by the feel of it the bot holding her was probably a mech. She brought her optics online and looked around to see she was back in Jack's garage and permitted herself a brief sigh of relief. '_It was just a dream…'_

"_**Arcee?"**_

She heard the soft voice right by her audio and looked down to see a pair of arm servos wrapped around her then looked up to see Smokescreen looking down at her, his ocean blue optics alight with concern. "_**Hey, are you ok?"**_

Her own optics widened as she leaned away from him and looked away, pressing her servo against her helm. "_**Oh, Primus, what did we **__do __**last night?"**_

Smokescreen frowned and let her pull away as far as the confines of the garage would allow with both of them in robot mode—which wasn't very far. _"We __**didn't do anything, warrior princess. **__You__** were having a night terror and started thrashing around and screaming, so **__I__** made sure you didn't hurt yourself,"**_

Arcee looked at him, surprised he would do that for her, then she looked at the ground, ashamed for snapping at him. "_**Um… did I… wake anyone else up?"**_

Smokescreen ran a scan of the house and the immediate area outside of the garage. "_**No, your screaming was at a frequency that humans can't hear,"**_

Arcee bit her lower lip component. "_**Smokescreen, I…"**_

Smokescreen smiled at her, the light from his optics reflected off his denta making them sparkle in the dark. "_**Don't worry about it, just go back into recharge. I'll be right over here if you need anything," **_Carefully folding back into his alt. mode, he transformed so he was once again parked on his side of the garage, settling down on his axels for the night.

Arcee followed his lead and transformed, leaning against her kickstand but didn't go into recharge right away. "_**Smokescreen?"**_

The Praxian rumbled his engine groggily "_**Hmm?**_"

If Arcee were still in robot mode she would have smiled shyly at him. "_**Thanks,"**_

Smokescreen revved his engine quietly at her in a friendly manner before powering down for recharge.

Arcee was almost afraid to go back into recharge but inevitably her systems powered down and she was swept back into the realm of dream cycles.

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_The next morning_

Arcee brought Jack to the base to meet the others there just like they did any other Sunday while Smokescreen brought June to work.

When they stopped at a stop light, June noticed Smokescreen was a lot quieter than normal. "Smokescreen?"

"Hmm?"

In all her time as a mother and a nurse, June Darby knew how to tell when something was "off" about someone. "Are you feeling alright?"

Smokescreen rocked on his axles slightly, the alt. mode equivalent of a nod. "Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just tired,"

"Have you been getting enough sleep, I mean recharge?"

"Yeah, it's just last night…" he was cut off when something crashed into him from behind, causing him to jolt from the impact and June to cry out in shock and a little fear. Smokescreen cringed internally. "Well, _that _woke me up…"

"Hey, loser!"

Smokescreen knew that voice anywhere and groaned. "Oh no…"

June looked around frantically. "What? What happened? Smokescreen, are you alright?"

Smokescreen snorted "Yeah, I'm fine. It takes a lot more than some bumper-checking punk to scrap me. You okay?"

June smoothed her hair back down and took a few breaths to calm herself. "I'm fine. Who was that? Decepticons?"

Smokescreen checked on the car behind him to see it backing up for another go. "No, just some local punk. Brace yourself, here he comes again,"

_CRASH!_

June gripped the steering wheel and tried to keep from hitting her head on it. "Who are they and why are they doing that?"

"Hey, Darby, I'm talking to you!"

Smokescreen locked the doors as the red haired jock got out of his car and started walking towards his driver's side. "That's Vince, from what I hear he seems to have a knack for harassing Jack, Raf and Miko. I think he recognizes me from when Jack was showing me around and thinks Jack is still driving,"

June looked in the side mirror and recognized him. "Vince? I used to go to school with his parents. How come Jack never said anything?"

"He probably didn't want to worry you,"

Vince got to Smokescreen's rear door and slammed his fist against it. "Hey, Burger boy, I know it was you that messed with my ride. Get out here so I can 'thank' you for it,"

June turned to glower at the teen and reached over to undo her seatbelt.

"June, stay put," Smokescreen hissed as he tightened the belt around her.

June looked at the dash and spoke in a firm tone. "At least let me roll down the window so I can talk to the boy,"

Begrudgingly, Smokescreen slowly rolled down the window as Vince came up to it, ready to roll it back up at a moment's notice if things became violent.

Vince suddenly stopped his enraged tirade when he saw it was Nurse Darby behind the wheel instead of her son. "Oh, h-hello, Nurse Darby. How are you doing today?"

June smiled at him politely "Oh, I'm fine Vince, thank you for asking. How are you? Are the brakes on your car working alright? You cut it kind of close there,"

Vince rubbed the back of his head. "Um… yeah, I've been meaning to get that looked at. Someone messed with my car the other day; I think they might've tampered with the brakes while they were at it,"

June feigned innocence; she knew about how Vince's car was "messed with" and she knew for a fact they never touched his brakes. "Really? Well I hope everything turns out okay,"

The light turned green and Smokescreen gently revved his engine, letting June know they had to get going.

"Well, it was nice seeing you again, Vince. Tell your parents I said 'Hi', would you?"

Vince forced a smile and waved while he walked back to his car. "I will. See you later, Nurse Darby,"

June waved back and pretended to drive away so Smokescreen could roll up his window as soon as they were out of sight. "Well, I don't think he's going to bother you again anytime soon,"

Smokescreen was confused "What makes you say that?"

June smiled "It's a small town, Smokescreen, people tend to talk to each other and by bringing up his parents just now I reminded him that we sometimes talk to each other too and if I hear about him doing something he shouldn't I could easily tell his parents that their son isn't always the 'star athlete' they are always bragging him to be,"

Smokescreen thought about it and saw how that would work out. "That's brilliant,"

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After dropping June off at work, Smokescreen drove straight back to the base.

Ratchet turned to look at him when he pulled off the ramp into the silo. "Ah, _there _you are! Thought we were going to have to send a search party out for you, too,"

Jack saw the scuffs on the back of Smokescreen's alt. mode. "Whoa, what happened to you?"

Smokescreen transformed and stretched out stiff joints. "A certain jerk decided he was going to try to run a red light but didn't see I was between him and the light," he walked over to the main hub where the other bots have gathered. "So, what's going on?"

Optimus Prime looked over at him from his place by the computers. "We have detected some Decepticon activity in an area located in the region the humans call 'Canada'. Arcee and Bumblebee will be going to investigate while you and Bulkhead will remain here on standby in the event they need back up or I manage to decode the next set of coordinates before they return,"

Smokescreen whined like a child that had been told he had to go to bed when he wanted to stay up longer. "You sure you don't want me to go with? What if the 'Cons show up?"

Arcee put her servos on her hips "What, you think we can't handle a few 'Cons?"

Smokescreen looked like he was trying to think of something "Well…"

Arcee huffed and stomped over to the groundbridge portal and turned back to Bumblebee and spoke in a fake-scared sarcastic voice. "Better hurry, 'Bee, I don't want to go through the groundbridge all alone in case some big bad _Deceptions_ show up," she ran through the swirling green vortex with Bumblebee close behind her.

Smokescreen watched them go and turned to look at the others. "I messed up again, didn't I?"

A chorus of "Yep,", "Uh-huh", "Kind of" and two "Oh yeah" came from every other occupant in the room except for Prime who was back at the monitor trying to decode more coordinates.

Smokescreen walked over to where Ratchet was making a holster so Prime could carry the Star Saber with him. "_**Um… can I talk to you about something?"**_

Ratchet looked at him for a moment before tilting his helm towards the doors that sealed off the more private part of the med. bay. "_**I've been meaning to give you your regular maintenance check-up anyway. No better time than the present," **_

Smokescreen followed Ratchet into the side room and sat on the edge of the med. berth so the medic could close the doors behind them.

Once they were sealed inside the sound proof room Ratchet looked over his array of tools to select which one he was going to use first. "_**So, what was it you wanted to talk about?**_"

Smokescreen pulled on his digits uncertainly. "_**You never did explain why you told me not to say anything when I first got here,"**_

Ratchet leaned against the edge of his workbench with a sigh. "_**When Wheeljack arrived on Earth a few months ago…"**_

Smokescreen's jaw dropped, his doorwings forming a surprised "V" behind him. "_**Uncle 'Jackie was here?" **_He heard Miko mention it when he first met her but she was talking so fast and asked him so many questions he didn't really pay attention to what she was actually saying.

Ratchet winced, he sounded a little _too _excited to hear the grenade-toting Wrecker was on Earth. "_**Yes, but when we first found him and brought him back to base we later found out that the Decepticons had intercepted the **__real __**Wheeljack and left an imposter for us to find. Fortunately, the real Wheeljack managed to escape and helped us defeat the false one,"**_

Smokescreen was confused and stared at Ratchet while he took out a portable scanner and scanned every inch of the mech's frame inside and out. "_**But what does that have to do with…"**_

Ratchet turned off the scanner and uploaded his findings onto a computer while doing a manual examination, testing his reflexes by poking his joints with a small low powered energon prod to see how he'd react. "_**Due to the fact we have been fooled once by such a ploy before it made us all a little more suspicious that another of our own happened to drop out of the sky in a **__Decepticon __**escape pod,"**_

Smokescreen winced when the testing prod got a little too close for comfort to a sensitive wire. "_**But why didn't you say anything?"**_

Ratchet put the prod back on the table "_**Because the Decepticons have already used a member of our family to get behind our defenses and for a long time I… I thought I lost you," **_he gripped the edge of the table so hard his knuckle joints creaked. "_**It would have made more sense to impersonate a deceased bot so their family and friends would be so relieved that they were still functioning that they would be blinded to the fact that something was not right than to impersonate a captive that could easily escape and reveal the truth,"**_

Ratchet turned and walked back over to Smokescreen with slow and deliberate strides. "_**Also, I did not want anyone to think I was favoring you just because you are my Creation,"**_ he grasped Smokescreen's shoulders firmly but gently. "_**You and your brothers have always been, and always will be, more special to me than words can describe, but that does not mean I will go easy on you. If you come to me as a patient I will treat you as I would treat any other patient,"**_

Smokescreen nodded, a multitude of mixed emotions playing out on his visage. "_**I know… Carrier, I know,"**_

Ratchet smiled and hugged him_** "Come to my quarters tonight, after everyone is in recharge. If you so wish we can renew the Bond then," **_He pulled back and laughed slightly_** "Or just catch up with each other,"**_

Smokescreen smiled and nodded "_**That would be nice,"**_

After finishing his examination, Ratchet checked the results of Smokescreen's check-up. "_**Well, Smokescreen, everything seems to be checking out just fine. Except for your energy readings are slightly lower than what they normally are, but that's nothing serious,"**_

Smokescreen leaned over to try to get a better look for himself. "_**It's probably just because I haven't had any energon yet,"**_

Ratchet nodded. "_**That might be part of it, I suggest you get some when we are done here, but have you been getting enough recharge?"**_

Smokescreen nodded "_**Yeah, but last night Arcee and I shared the garage again so neither of us had to recharge out in the cold or drive all the way to the base and back. She had a night terror and started talking in her sleep,"**_

Ratchet frowned and saved the results of the check-up on Smokescreen's medical file before shutting the computer down. "_**Looks like I might need to give **__her__** an examination when she gets back," **_he patted Smokescreen on the back and gently nudged him off of the berth. "_**Alright, Smokescreen, you're free to go,"**_

Smokescreen waved as he sidestepped out the door as it opened. "_**Thanks Ratchet,"**_

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_Meanwhile, in Canada_

Arcee and Bumblebee drove down a dirt road with a damp mist blowing around them. The road itself was surrounded by trees and greenery that had been covered in frost and moss.

The yellow scout drove carefully and without a word as if the slightest sound could incite a confrontation; both because of the possibility of Decepticons in the area and because Arcee drove ahead of him, fuming and occasionally grumbling under her breath.

"_**Primus, who does that bot think he is? ... Just shows up out of nowhere and expects to be treated like he already won the war single handedly,"**_

Bumblebee caught something on his scanners, something nearby. **(_Umm, 'Cee?_)**

Arcee didn't hear him. _** "So, he trained at the Elite Guard Academy. Big FREAKING Deal! He missed out on most of the war and he said himself the Academy was just a big boot camp..." **_

_**('Cee…)**_

"_**Honestly, that mech has no idea what any of us have been through…"**_

Bumblebee resorted to transforming and standing in front of Arcee with his servos out to stop her. **(_ARCEE!)**_

Arcee transformed and skidded to a stop just short of bumping into him. "_**What is it, 'Bee?"**_

Bumblebee pointed to the side **(_Look!)**_

Arcee looked to where he was pointing and saw a quarry a few yards away from the road, the sounds of digging were echoing from it.

The two ran to a group of dunes next to the site and scampered up one of them to get a closer look and to get out of sight. Both bots were surprised by what they saw.

Down in the quarry was a Vehicon mining crew, drilling into the sides of the quarry with their mining equipment with Dreadwing standing in the center, barking orders at them all.

"_**What do you think they are looking for?"**_

**(_Energon?)**_

Arcee scanned the area with her optics "_**No, too many guards for a regular energon scouting. If it's energon they're after they're gearing up for something big,"**_

Bumblebee looked over at her and buzzed _**(Or maybe…)**_

Arcee looked back at him "_**You think they've found the next relic?"**_

Bumblebee shrugged right before a shot went right over their helms.

"_**Autobots!"**_

Arcee looked over and saw a scout had spotted them. "_**Scrap…"**_

And the fighting began, any Eradicons or Vehicons that weren't busy operating the diggers armed their weapons and started firing on the two Autobots who fired right back.

Dreadwing growled at them and held out his servo to halt a few Eradicons about to charge into battle. "_**Forget the Autobots! Grab as much energon as you can carry, we will need all we can get for what is to come,"**_

The 'Cons fell back in ranks, each grabbing a small payload of energon as they ran through the ground bridge portal that just opened up behind them. Dreadwing provided cover fire for the last ones to leave before backing into the portal himself and bolting as it closed.

Arcee deactivated her weapons and clenched her fists at her sides, growling. "_**Ugh, they got away. What else can go wrong?"**_

Bumblebee heard a rustle in the bushes a few yards away and went over to investigate and froze when he saw a flash of black and white. _**(Um… 'Cee…)**_

Arcee slumped before she turned to look at him. "_**What is it 'Bee?"**_

Suddenly, a tiny black and white creature came out and lifted its tail and sprayed him with some sort of foul-smelling liquid.

Bumblebee screamed, making a noise that sounded like R2-D2's scream, as he scrambled away from the tiny animal with Arcee running parallel to him, contacting Ratchet.

:Ratchet we need a bridge. The 'Cons were here and I think you might want to have a look at 'Bee.:

Back at the base, Ratchet could hear Arcee as well as Bumblebee screeching in the back ground **(IT BURNS! IT BURNS!)** and feared the worst.

:Arcee, Are either you or Bumblebee injured?:

Ratchet had their conversation on the main computer so everyone could hear them. Raf looked up at the screen, worried for his friend; especially since he could still hear 'Bee screaming **(AHH! GET IT OFF! IT BURNS!)**

"What did the 'Cons do to him?:

Arcee's voice came back over the comm. line, although it had a strange tone to it. :It, uh, wasn't the 'Cons… something else showed up after they left.:

Everyone exchanged looks of confusion while Ratchet opened the bridge.

As soon as it was open, Arcee came running in as fast as her slender legs could carry her with Bumblebee not far behind. "_**QUICK, CLOSE IT! Before that **__thing __**follows us in here!"**_

Ratchet did as he was told and went over to Bumblebee, but couldn't find anything visibly wrong with the mech, except for the fact he was clawing at his chest and faceplates.

Then there was the strange smell that was wafting off of him. "Ugh,_what _is that smell?"

Raf ran up to make sure his guardian was alright but stopped a few feet away when the smell reached him and covered his nose. "Oh, 'Bee, you got sprayed by a skunk!"

"EEW!" they all covered their noses and olfactory sensors.

Smokescreen looked down at the human children "What's a 'skunk'?"

Jack looked up at him while pinching his nose. "A furry little animal that sprays anything that scares it with some god-awful stink,"

Miko giggled at him "Your voice sounds funny,"

Ratchet looked down at him "How exactly do we get this 'god-awful stink' off of Bumblebee?"

Raf looked up at the medic "Wash it off. Tomato juice gets it off the fastest but I don't know how we'll get enough to wash 'Bee in. Other than that the only thing we can do is keep him someplace well ventilated or outside until it wears off in about a week,"

Ratchet activated the ground bridge "You heard the boy. OUT! OUT! OUT!"

Bumblebee looked at him like a puppy that just got kicked. _**(What…)**_

The medic's expression softened "I'm sending you back to the Esquivels' for the time being. You can still come and go as needed but until that spray has worn off you can't be in the base for more than a few minutes at a time. I cannot imagine how long it would take to get the smell out of the base should it happen to linger,"

Bumblebee nodded his understanding and trudged into the bridge.

Raf followed him. "Hey, wait up 'Bee. I'll see if we have anything at home that we can use on skunk spray,"

Bumblebee buzzed his thanks and the two disappeared through the ground bridge before Ratchet closed it.

Miko watched them go "Poor Bumblebee, voted off the island on account of getting skunked," she went back to the human couch to start a video game.

Optimus stepped forward "Now that that matter has been dealt with for the time being, what did you and Bumblebee see on your reconnaissance mission, Arcee?"

Arcee turned to the Prime. "Dreadwing and a troop of Vehicons were digging for energon in an old quarry. There were also Eradicons posted as guards there, too many guards for it to be a routine energon excavation. Dreadwing also said 'Take as much energon as you can, we are going to need everything we can get for what is to come," she made her voice deeper to mimic the Decepticon lieutenant.

Optimus pondered this for a moment. "If the Decepticons have uncovered the next relic, then time is of the essence," he went back to the terminal where he had been unlocking the Iacon database codes. "I must unlock the next set of coordinates as soon as possible,"

The others watched as he typed furiously, eventually dispersing to go about their own business until it was time to take Jack and Miko home for lunch and for Smokescreen to go pick up June from work.

* * *

_**AN: Many thanks to everyone that has read, reviewed and are now following this; Alc Fluteo, bladerunner89, star's dreams, CreativeMultitasker, Kaleia (Guest), thunder angel13, tina 135790, alboc, Nathan Kurono, Designation M (Guest).**_


	5. Chapter 5

Where There Is Smoke

Chapter 5

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

:comm. link:

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Spark feelings_

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years.

* * *

That night, Smokescreen snuck into Ratchet's quarters—which wasn't too difficult being as Arcee was at the Darby's, Bumblebee was at the Esquivel's and Prime and Bulkhead were in their quarters already in recharge.

He didn't know the code so he waited until Ratchet came back from shutting down the med. bay for the night and patiently stood aside to let the medic enter the code and invite him in.

The medic's quarters were rather simple, there was a berth set up against the wall and a desk on the opposite side of the room where he had parts of a past project he had brought to his room with him to work on for nights when he couldn't recharge and a shelf containing a few mementoes he had brought with him from Cybertron.

Once they were both inside Ratchet gestured to the berth. "_**Have a seat and shutter your optics,"**_

Smokescreen sat down on the edge of the berth and looked at the other occupant of the room questioningly. "_**Why do I have to shutter my optics?"**_

Ratchet looked like he was about to look for something but turned to Smokescreen with his servos on his hips. "_**Because I have a small stash of high grade hidden somewhere in this room and I figured we could have a drink while we are here," **_He glanced at the door as if to check for eavesdroppers. "_**And I don't want anyone else knowing where it is because then the others will just take it,"**_

Smokescreen smirked and shuttered his optics. "_**No peaking!" **_ Smokescreen rolled his optics behind their shutters and covered them with his servos to show he wasn't looking.

Ratchet went over to the air vent and removed the cover reached in and put the cover back when he withdrew his servo, then he went to his desk to open a drawer and rummage through it. He repeated this with each of the drawers before sneaking over to the berth to pull a box out from underneath it and dig through that before closing the lid loudly.

He was looking in several different places so that even if Smokescreen was listening to see where his hoard was hidden he wouldn't be able to tell _which _hiding place actually had the goods.

Where was it actually hidden? I'm not telling.

Ratchet went back to the other side of the room "_**Okay, you can look now,"**_

Smokescreen uncovered his optics to see Ratchet holding a metal flask that was covered in glyphs that marked the container's contents as high grade energon in one servo and gripped two crystalline cube shaped containers in the other by pinching the rims together in his digits.

Ratchet sat down on the berth and set the cubes between them, pouring one about half full of the silver colored liquid for Smokescreen before pouring the same amount for himself and setting the flask on the box he had pulled out before.

Smokescreen picked up the cube and examined it like it was some new species of animal he had never seen before, holding it up to the light and sniffing it. His olfactory sensors tingled when he smelt it; he could practically smell the extra energy in it.

Ratchet noticed his mechling's unease as he picked up his own cube. "_**What's wrong, Smokescreen? Don't you like high grade?"**_

Smokescreen smiled sheepishly "_**Actually I, uh… I've never actually had high grade before,"**_

Ratchet raised his optic ridge "_**Why not? You became of age to legally drink it when you were at the Academy,"**_

"_**Yeah and I'm the only one I knew there that didn't get overcharged whenever my roommates managed to smuggle high grade into the barracks,"**_

Ratchet took a swig of his own drink "_**Good, I saw the types of bots you had to room with at the Academy and I don't want you getting, as the humans say, 'wasted' around that kind of crowd,"**_ he gestured to Smokescreen's energon "_**Go on, it's not going to come alive and eat you,"**_

Smokescreen took a drink and coughed as it burned going down.

"_**Yeah, it's a little strong at first. Take it in little sips until your systems adjust," **_

He took a more tentative sip and let it simmer on his glossa before letting it flow down his throat tubing to his fuel tank. "_**Hmm, what kind is this?"**_

Ratchet smiled "_**Praxian, I managed to save some from Cybertron and brought it to Earth with us,"**_

Smokescreen looked at Ratchet then down at the energon cube in his servo, starting to feel homesick. "_**It's good,"**_

While the two sipped their energon, they talked about everything they had been through the past few vorns. The room was mostly sound proof so they didn't have to whisper but they kept their voices down because there was always a chance someone could hear them; and because Ratchet had a really loud laugh when he actually did laugh and Smokescreen's laugh was just as loud.

After the two had drained their cubes they had a nice buzz going through their systems. Ratchet looked over at Smokescreen, who was starting to look dazed. "_**Still want to renew that Bond?"**_

Smokescreen thought about it and nodded, he wanted to show his Carrier how much he missed him and the current weakness of the remaining Bond just left him feeling like something was missing. "_**Uh huh,"**_

Ratchet smiled at him and held an arm-servo out. "_**Come here,"**_

Smokescreen crawled over and lay down next to Ratchet so his upper body was across his legs. Ratchet pulled his now adult Creation into his lap and held him like he had when he was a sparkling. They had done this when Smokescreen had upgraded to his Youngling frame so they knew what to do and it wasn't uncommon for bots back on Cybertron to renew family Bonds so that families could remain in touch with each other.

When they were both ready, they slowly opened up their chest plates and exposed their spark chambers and, even more slowly, retracted their spark casing to reveal their life sources to each other. But they didn't look at each other's sparks; that was a sight reserved only for Bondmates or a medic giving an examination.

Once they were exposed, the two slowly moved their sparks together, just close enough for them to brush against each other—they didn't merge them, they weren't Bondmates after all—which caused the two to gasp at the sudden rush of heat, energy and feelings that were rushing into them from the other.

Smokescreen focused on the thoughts and feelings of '_Creator… Carrier… parent…' _while Ratchet focused on '_Creation… Son… child…'_ as they both experienced second hand everything the other had ever been through in a matter of seconds. When it was over the two were left with a sense of _Peace and Belonging_ that neither had felt for a long time.

Smokescreen looked up at his Carrier sleepily and tentatively brushed the Creator-Creation Bond. (Love you, Carrier.)

Ratchet smiled down at him just as tiredly (Love you too, Smokey.) The two lay down next to each other on the berth to get some recharge and let the renewed Bond solidify.

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_The next morning_

As always, Ratchet was the first one up and in the main area to set out rations for everybot and start his day.

Smokescreen, being as he had stayed the night in the medic's quarters, was up the same time he was and snuck across the hall to his own quarters only to come back out again the same time Bulkhead came lumbering out to make it look like he had been there all night.

After they had got their rations the two mechs drove into town to pick up their charges and make sure they got to their respective destinations safely and on time.

When Smokescreen pulled into the Darby's driveway to pick up June he could hear the rev of a motorcycle engine accompanied by a familiar female voice shouting "Jack, hurry up or you'll be late for school!"

Smokescreen snorted amusement and made sure he was parked far enough to the side so that he wasn't in the way if femme the voice belonged to decided to peel out of the garage in her haste to get Jack to school on time.

He heard June repeat the call for the boy to hurry up before she came outside in her usual scrubs and a thick jacket with gloves. "Morning Smokescreen,"

"Morning, June," he opened the driver's side door for her.

June was surprised by the change in the Autobot's attitude since the last time she saw him as she climbed into the driver's seat. "You seem to be in a better mood,"

Smokescreen rocked on his axles "Yeah, I stayed at the base last night and had a talk with Ratchet. He even got out some high grade he had stashed someplace and let me have some before we went to recharge,"

"High grade, what's that?"

Smokescreen pulled out of the driveway once June was buckled in. "It's a kind of energon that has a higher energy content so it works kind of like what humans call 'alcohol' for Cybertronians,"

June grew concerned "Are you sure you should be driving?"

"Yeah, I actually only had enough to get a slight buzz going and then I slept it off before having my regular energon ration this morning so now it's basically like how humans get when they drink… um, what is that hot brown liquid humans drink in the morning called again?"

"Coffee?"

"Yeah, that's it,"

June nodded "Okay, I'll take your word for it, Smokescreen. But if you start swerving on the road…"

Smokescreen gently tightened the seatbelt around her like a hug "Would I ever put a human friend in danger?" It was quiet for a moment. "Oh, right, never mind,"

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When the bots all got back to base—except for Bumblebee, he was still banned from the base but he was on-call at the Esquivel's in case he was needed—they all gathered in front of the computers in case Prime had found something.

Smokescreen saw Ratchet had finished the holster for the Star Saber and was working on another project. "_**What are you working on?"**_

Ratchet rubbed his temples in anticipation for the coming processor ache; he knew the affects high grade had on first time drinkers in the morning after, either they got a serious hangover or the extra energy made them squirrely, and since Smokescreen wasn't hung over…

Ratchet looked at the young Praxian mech that had come over for a closer look at everything he had scattered on the workbench in front of him. "_**Something that had been brought to my attention some time ago and since it has been rather quiet as far as the Decepticons are concerned I've actually had time to work on it. BULKHEAD, DON'T EVEN COME NEAR THIS WORK BENCH!"**_

The big green mech stopped midstride from coming over to see what Smokescreen was so interested in. "_**Why?"**_

Ratchet took out a large wrench out of a subspace pocket in his arm and tapped it against his palm. "_**Because the components I am working with here are incredibly delicate and even harder to replace. I can't afford to have any of them broken,"**_

Bulkhead recognized the "Wrench of Doom" in the medic's servo and shied away with his servos up in surrender while Arcee came over to see for herself. "_**Looks kind of like the projector I have for my holodriver,**_"

Ratchet put his trusty wrench away and picked up a small syncro-laser to sear a few wires together. "_**Yes because it is basically the same concept, only I'm trying to build something a little more… defined… than just a projected silhouette,"**_

Arcee quirked an optic ridge "_**'Defined', how?"**_

Ratchet exchanged the synchro-laser for another tool "_**Oh, you'll see. I'll tell you one thing though, if I can enough of these built there will be enough for each of us to have one,"**_

Arcee subtly pulled Smokescreen with her as she slowly backed away towards Bulkhead, who was slowly sidestepping further away.

Once they were a safe distance away, Smokescreen whispered "_**What was that all about?"**_

Arcee whispered back "_**Didn't you hear what he just said? 'Oh you'll see'? Last time he said **__that __**phrase, in **__that __**tone with **__that __**look on his face was when he decided to 'help',"**_ she made air quotes at the word "help". "_**The kids with their science projects, that did **__not __**end well,"**_

"_**What happened?"**_

"_**He got a little carried away, he not only built their projects for them he made them like any Cybertronian scientist would. **_

_**Jack was going to show the class about engine schematics by taking apart a basic engine, explaining what each part did and put it back together. **__Ratchet, __**on the other servo, decided he was going to build him a very complex **__Cybertronian __**engine part which went out of control and knocked down a door, spun down the hallway and outside where Bulkhead ran over it before it could hurt anyone,"**_

Bulkhead explained how Miko's project went "_**Yeah, and Miko was supposed to do a scale model of Earth's solar system. The one she did was pretty good, I think I still have it here somewhere. But Ratchet made her a scale model of **__Cybertron, __**complete with both its moons and glowing core. Not only did she get in trouble for doing the project wrong but the support string broke and the thing damaged the teacher's desk. Then the model volcano he made for Raf blew a giant whole in the roof,"**_

Arcee crossed her arm servos "_**And now he's got that same crazed look in his optics while he's building something he wants to install in our bodies. Am I the only one worried about that?"**_

Smokescreen cringed "_**Okay, I see your point,"**_

Optimus called over from the terminal "_**Autobots, I am picking up an energy reading close to that quarry where the Decepticons were mining energon,"**_

Arcee stepped up "_**Maybe we can find some kind of clue if we check that area. I can scout it out, with your permission,"**_

Optimus nodded "_**Good idea, Arcee but it is too dangerous for you to go alone in the event the Decepticons are still watching that area,"**_

Arcee thought for a moment, she preferred working alone but she didn't disagree with him that she might need back up. "_**Okay, Bumblebee was there too so I'll just call him…"**_

Optimus' digits slowed for the first time that morning. "_**Actually, I was thinking more of somebot that was already in the base,"**_

Arcee hesitated "_**Um, okay. Let's go Bulk,"**_

"_**I wasn't referring to Bulkhead,"**_

"…_**Ratchet?" **_ She almost squeaked her last option besides… '_Oh Primus, please tell me he doesn't mean…'_

Optimus turned to look at the other Autobots with his servos at his sides "_**Smokescreen, I want you to accompany Arcee to the Decepticon digging site in the event she needs immediate back up. If the two of you require further assistance you are to contact the base," **_he crossed his arm servos and looked at the two bots in question "_**Is that understood?"**_

Smokescreen saluted him, eager to finally be going on a mission. "_**You can count on me sir,"**_

Arcee took a deep intake and let it out in a huff to at least _look _like she still had some patience with the excitable rookie to keep before she turned to walk towards the ground bridge. "_**Let's just get this over with,"**_

Smokescreen stood a few steps to the side of her and shadow boxed in anticipation of what was to come while she tapped her ped impatiently waiting for the ground bridge portal to open.

Ratchet shook his helm grimly while he manned the ground bridge controls "_**This can't possibly end well," **_The swirling portal of green light appeared in the generator in front of the two bots.

Smokescreen stopped showing off his practice moves to gesture for her to go first. "_**Ladies first,"**_

She ignored him and ran through the ground bridge at a full sprint with him close behind.

The ground bridge dropped them off only a few yards away from the quarry before closing up behind them.

After they made sure there were no humans around to see them, Arcee took out the hand held scanner she had brought with her and started walking around to try to get a reading while Smokescreen transformed his servo into a blaster and made sure there were no 'Cons in the area.

After a few minutes they heard the sounds of digging nearby. They crept over to the rift the humans had dug for their own comings and goings and slid along the side of it, careful not to shift any rock that would alert whoever was digging of their presence.

Arcee crouched down and peered around the corner while Smokescreen carefully moved so he was across from her and looked for himself.

Knockout was in the quarry with about four Vehicons, one operated the drill they had with them while the other three cleared the loose rock out of the way.

The vain red mech took out a polishing cloth and buffed his armor in an attempt to save his pristine paint job. "_**Ugh, all this dust is ruining my paint job and clogging my joints and air filters. Hurry up with that drill, ST3V3!"**_

St3v3 looked over at his commanding officer from where he sat atop the driller. "_**Yes sir," **_he powered up the drill so that the bit spun faster, only to kick up more dust and send it flying back, right at Knockout.

Knockout's vents hitched as more dust and bits of gravel clouded them. "*_cough* *cough* __**Alright, alright, never mind**_! _**Let's just wrap this up so we can leave. The sooner I can get back to the **__Nemesis __**and fix my beautiful paint job the better,"**_

"_**I'd say your paint job is the least of your worries,"**_

Knockout turned to see Arcee and Smokescreen behind him with their weapons armed and ready. The red sports car smirked devilishly. "_**Ah, Arcee, I was wondering when we would meet again. I have been eager to repay for you for that number you and that scout did to my paint job back in New York. I was kind of hoping to get the bug to but it seems I will have to settle for you and your companion here,"**_

He looked over at Smokescreen "_**Ah, you must be that new Autobot I've been hearing about," **_he spotted the insignia on Smokescreen's shoulder "_**And an Elite Guard to boot." **_His expression changed to one that was almost reminiscent. _**"Oh what fun it was to burn that place to the ground,"**_

Smokescreen stiffened. '_Burned to the ground… Bastard, I knew bots there!'_ he glared at the other mech and charged his weapons to fire but Arcee stopped him "_**Smokescreen, now is not the time to go 'robot cowboy',"**_

"_**Smokescreen?"**_ Knockouts optics flashed in recognition and the devilish smile returned. "_**Now I remember where I saw you before. Tell me, **__Smokey,__** how is that lovely femme Creator of yours? Now that was a nice piece of optic candy. Almost as lovely as your companion here," **_He looked Arcee up and down lustfully.

Shaking with rage, Smokescreen transformed his blasters and balled up his fists to take a swing at Knockout, but Arcee beat him to it, switching from her blasters to her arm blades she rushed at Knockout.

Knockout just smiled and took a small devise out of his subspace, pointed it at her, and pressed a button. The devise fired a blast of sonic waves which sent Arcee flying back into the far wall of the quarry.

The femme groaned as she slid down the wall only to be hit again halfway down and held in place until the second wave stopped and she fell in a crumbled heap on the ground.

Knockout chuckled as he held up the Resonance Blaster "_**Neat toy, huh? Borrowed it from Soundwave, it certainly packs a punch,"**_

His boasts were interrupted by a blow that struck him across the face and sent him to the ground. He touched his lip components and found energon dripping from a crack in them. A shadow fell over him and he looked up to see Smokescreen looming over him, cracking his knuckles and looking incredibly pissed off.

"_**How about that punch?" **_Smokescreen swung at him again and again, each blow leaving a good sized dent in the other mech's frame until Knockout raised the Resonance Blaster at him.

Smokescreen dodged out of immediate range of the relic to grab Knockout's arm and twist it until he was pinned face down on the ground and kept twisting until he heard something _pop._

After prying the relic from Knockout's digits, Smokescreen leaned down to whisper in his audio "_**I'm not some scared little sparkling anymore, Knockout. If you **__ever __**try anything like that again I will end you,"**_

Smokescreen rolled away from the Decepticon medic and made a break for Arcee.

The Vehicons, who had been holding their fire earlier so they didn't hit Knockout, opened fire on him.

Dodging the shots, Smokescreen picked up Arcee bridal style and fiddled with something on his wrist before stepping up to the wall and walking right through it, leaving the 'Cons with only a crumbling rock face to shoot at.

Knockout looked up, saw what happened and growled _**"Grrr, that Autobrat has the Phase Shifter **__and __**the Resonance Blaster," **_he looked up at the Vehicon that were gathering around him. "_**You and You, find them. The rest of you help me up!" **_

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Smokescreen ghost-walked his way through the solid ground until he found a relatively safe place to resurface. He could somewhat see through the rock, everything just looked so transparent and vibrations told him where anyone on the surface was.

He came up to the surface where the ground bridge had dropped them of and carefully set Arcee on the ground behind the cover of a pile of excess rock that had been dug out of the quarry and checked her for injuries. Her armor was cracked in many places and he saw tiny droplets of energon seeping from her audios but he could hear her systems running. She was unconscious but alive.

After sighing from relief, Smokescreen contacted the base. :Smokescreen to base, we need a bridge and possible back up. Knockout and about four Vehicons are here.:

He heard the sounds of a ground bridge opening and looked over and saw a flash of green light in the quarry. Crawling over to peer over the edge, he saw two of the Vehicons help Knockout through the portal while the other two stood guard until it closed leaving them there to look for the two Autobots that got away.

:Scratch that, Knockout just left through a ground bridge with two of the 'Cons. Now there's only two left, but Arcee needs medical help, Knockout hit her hard with the Resonance Blaster.: he crawled back to where Arcee was and got one of his blasters out in case the Vehicons found them.

He started when another ground bridge portal opened a few meters behind him but settled down when Bulkhead came running through. "_**Need some help, kid?"**_

Smokescreen smiled at him right before they both had to duck as a shot went right over there helms, alerting them that the 'Cons had found them.

Smokescreen returned fire as did Bulkhead as soon as he had his own blasters activated. They managed to pick off one of the Vehicons and take him down. The remaining purple mech hesitated before dragging his comrade away from the fight. Another flash of green light and the sound of a nearby ground bridge told them they went back to the _Nemesis. _They waited for a few minutes after it was gone to see if they were sending in reinforcements.

When none came they left through their own bridge and ran through it, Smokescreen carrying Arcee in his arm-servos.

When they got back to the base Smokescreen looked around for Ratchet. "_**Ratchet?"**_

"_**Here,"**_ Smokescreen carried Arcee over to where Ratchet was getting the med. bay ready to treat her. "_**Set her down on that med. berth, stat!"**_

Smokescreen carefully placed the unconscious femme on the med. berth, handling her as if she were made of glass and could shatter any nanoklik.

"_**Alright, now move aside so I can do my job," **_Smokescreen moved aside so the medic could examine Arcee. Ratchet spotted something attached to Smokescreen's wrist. "_**Smokescreen, why do you have the Phase Shifter?"**_

Smokescreen looked at the relic that was on his wrist like a watch "_**I grabbed it before we left in case we needed it, and guess what we did," **_he looked at Ratchet with hopeful optics "_**Can I keep it?"**_

Ratchet rubbed his optics "_**Fine, fine, at least this way I don't have to worry about you taking it again,"**_

Smokescreen did a fist pump "_**Score!"**_

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Out in the main area, Bumblebee just pulled up and Optimus was working the ground bridge controls "_**Bumblebee, Bulkhead, I am sending you to scout out that quarry before the Decepticons have a chance to regroup. Smokescreen will join you as soon as he is able,"**_

The portal opened up again and the two 'Bots rushed out to finish the mission.

Meanwhile, in the med. bay Ratchet ran a scan of Arcee's whole body to find out the extent of the damage and see if there was any internal damage.

While he was scanning, Arcee's optic shutters started to flutter open. Smokescreen was about to leave but decided to stick around to see if she was alright. "_**Hey, I think she's coming around,"**_

Ratchet saw this and tried to get her to look at him "_**Arcee, can you hear me?"**_

Arcee opened her optic shutters and stared blankly at the ceiling. She recognized the ceiling as Ratchet's med. bay. '_How did I get back to the base? Why is it so quiet? ' _she turned her head to look at a nearby monitor, she saw the lights flashing but she couldn't hear the beeping that usually went with it. '_The monitors aren't even beeping. What's going on?'_

She jumped when she felt someone touch her shoulder and looked over to see it was just Ratchet. She could tell he was talking to her by the way his mouth was moving but she couldn't make out what she was saying. "_**RATCHET, WHAT'S GOING ON? WHY CAN'T I HEAR ANYTHING?"**_

Ratchet grabbed a datapad and wrote something on it and showed it to her "_You were hit by the Resonance Blaster. Aside from temporary hearing loss you should be fine once I get these cracks in your armor repaired,"_

Arcee sat read the message and asked in a slightly raised voice. "_**HOW LONG UNTIL I GET MY HEARING BACK?"**_

Smokescreen leaned against a console "_**That's a good question,"**_

Ratchet wrote on the datapad again and said the message out loud for Smokescreen while Arcee read it. "_**That depends on how long it takes her internal repairs to fix and reboot her audio receptors, but that shouldn't take too long,"**_

He picked up a welder and started work on sealing the cracks in her armor back up again. "_**In the meantime, Smokescreen, I believe you have a mission to finish,"**_

The Praxian looked like he was about to protest but turned to go back out and set the Resonance Blaster down to put it away later and put the ground bridge on time delay so he could go back to the quarry with Bulkhead and Bumblebee without having to bother anybot else or worry about any unwanted guests finding it if they left it open.

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The search at the quarry didn't hold any clues as to what the 'Cons were up to but it did have a few untapped energon veins left over that they could dig up and bring back to base with them.

By the time they got it all boxed up in crates and brought back to the base it was around noon. Just for the sake of curiosity, Smokescreen went back to the med. bay to see how Arcee was doing.

She was now sitting up on the edge of the med. berth, staring off into space like she was lost and needed something else to focus on.

Smokescreen smiled at her "_**Hey, feeling better?" **_No response. He looked over at Ratchet who was putting his tools away after he had cleaned them all. "_**Is she still having trouble hearing or is she ignoring me?"**_

Ratchet shrugged and went back to scrubbing a smudge off of a clamp he was cleaning. "_**Hard to tell with her, Try something that will get her attention,"**_

Smokescreen walked over to her and said in a normal tone on voice. "_**Hey, Arcee, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"**_

No response, he thought for a moment and got this mischievous look in his optics "_**This outta get her attention…" **_he shouted through his cupped servos. "_**HEY, ARCEE, I SAW JACK STARING AT YOUR ASS THE OTHER DAY!"**_

Ratchet looked at him like he was insane but Arcee cupped her servo next to her audio and shouted back "_**WHAT? WHO'S A JACKASS?"**_

Ratchet gave a sigh of relief and looked over at Smokescreen. "_**You do realize she would have killed you if she heard you, right?"**_

Smokescreen shrugged, trying not to laugh. "_**Hey, at least we know she can hear **__some __**things now,"**_

Ratchet grumbled about young mechs with death wishes as the younger mech walked away to help Bulkhead and Bumblebee move the crates of energon into storage.

When it came time to pick up the kids Arcee was still in no condition to drive and Bumblebee wasn't sure he should drive by the school because a lot of people were disgusted by the remaining skunk smell when he dropped Raf off that morning so Smokescreen offered to go with Bulkhead so he didn't have to get all three kids by himself, which Prime allowed as long as he behaved himself.

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Jack walked down the steps of Jasper High School, wanting nothing more than to climb aboard his guardian's motorcycle alt. mode and speed off to the base, or home, anywhere but the prison he just got out of.

Only instead of a navy blue motor cycle in Arcee's usual parking spot there was a white sports car with red and blue designs down the sides and a double "38" on the doors.

Confused but not complaining, he started towards Smokescreen.

"Hey, Darby,"

He turned towards Vince, who was leaning against the handrail of the steps. "Isn't that your mom's car?"

Jack looked at him warily "Yeah, why? Need a lift?"

Vince snorted. "Whatever, loser," he shoved Jack aside and walked down the steps to go get in his own car and drive away.

Jack glared at the teen until he was out of sight.

"Hey Jack,"

Jack turned to see Sierra looking at him "Oh, hey Sierra,"

The red haired girl smiled at him. "Hey, is that really your mom's car?"

Jack thought about it a moment, he had to choose his words carefully. "Yeah, actually it belongs to a friend of the family, he's just letting her borrow it until she can get a new one since the old one got caught up in that freak storm a while back,"

He looked at his watch then over at Smokescreen "Although since it's too early for her to be off her shift and I don't see her stepping out to do any of her usual 'mom stuff' I think he might be the one driving,"

Sierra looked at him strangely "Really?" she looked over at Smokescreen's alt. mode. "You're mom sure has an unusual taste in vehicles. Like that time she showed up at your work dressed in that leather biker outfit riding your motorcycle,"

Jack face palmed, he had been talking to Sierra while he was running the drive thru that day and when Arcee came to pick him up he quickly covered by saying it was his mom calling him. But Sierra could tell he wasn't telling the truth and Arcee circled around where they both could see her and from the looks of things Sierra thought he already had a girlfriend.

"Oh, no that was my cousin, Sadie. She was in town that week so I let her use the motorcycle while I was at work. She was just there to pick me up when my shift ended. She and my mom just sound so alike over the phone I get them confused sometimes,"

Sierra looked at him, suddenly hopeful. That same look she gave him when she asked if she could have a ride on "his motorcycle". "Oh, okay. Hey, did you hear about the dance this weekend?"

Jack rubbed the back of his head "Uh, dance? Why, are you going?"

Sierra nodded "Yeah, it's Saturday night. You going?"

Jack rubbed the back of his head again, remembering that the only reason he even met the Autobots was because he ran into Arcee while avoiding going to a dance. "Um… I'm not really a good dancer… and I might have something else going on…" he took one look at the look that his crush was giving him and simply gave in. " But if I _can _make it, sure,"

Sierra smiled at him "Okay, see you there," she skipped off to meet up with her friend.

Jack readjusted his bag on his shoulder and got into Smokescreen's "Hey, Smokescreen, where's Arcee?"

Smokescreen pretended to be offended "Well, hello to you too,"

Jack fastened the seat belt and pretended to be the one to close the door. "Sorry, it's just she's the one that usually picks me up from school. Is everything alright back at the base?"

Smokescreen pulled out of the parking spot and drove away. "Yeah, Bumblebee just didn't want to come because he still stinks like skunk and Arcee just needs to stay in the med. bay until she gets her hearing back,"

Jack was concerned "Wait, what happened to Arcee's hearing,"

Smokescreen filled him in on everything he missed while he was at school while he drove to the K.O. Burger where Jack worked in the evenings after school and in the morning on weekends.

After dropping the teen off at work he drove back to the base where Bulkhead had already brought the other two children.

The rest of the day passed without further incident. Smokescreen went to pick up Jack from work when his shift ended so he could spend some time at the base with the others, though the boy just went to the med. bay to see how Arcee was doing as soon as he got there.

When it came time for the other guardians to take the children home and for Smokescreen to go wait for June to get done with work Bulkhead and Bumblebee took their charges home while Smokescreen drove ahead of Arcee.

Her hearing was still sensitive so Smokescreen tried to help her out by flashing his brake lights every time anything came within range of his scanners and letting her know over the comm. link what it was. It worked with limited success but they got home just fine.

After Smokescreen brought June home he figured Arcee needed some space after what happened that day and was going to go back to the base for the night.

Before he left he scanned the house and the immediate surrounding area for possible trouble. Finding none—or anyone around to see him for that matter—he quietly transformed so he was crouching in the driveway and looked through the window set in the garage door.

The window was too high up for anyone to see inside the garage and was mainly there to let light in but he could easily see the navy blue motorcycle parked inside. He smiled to himself when he realized she was still parked a little to the side like she was leaving a space for him in case he decided to come back to the garage that night.

He found himself staring and shook himself. '_Stop that, Smokescreen, if she ever caught you doing that she'd slag you,'_

The Praxian mech transformed and drove back to the base.

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Over the next few nights, Smokescreen went back to the base each night and waited until everyone else was in recharge before sneaking out of the base for a late night drive to clear his processors that doubled as a self-assigned patrol.

One morning he didn't show up for morning rations. Everyone thought he was at the Darby's making sure June got to work but when Arcee called to check in she wanted to know where the newest recruit was at. Granted she didn't use the phrase "New recruit" to describe Smokescreen but no one wanted to repeat what she said about him in her frustration over having to do his duties in addition to her own.

When they heard this Ratchet looked at Bulkhead "_**Did you see him last night?"**_

The ex-Wrecker thought about it "_**Now that you mention it, after I dropped Miko off I came back here to get something and I saw Smokescreen driving back to town, but that's the last I saw him. You think he came back?"**_

Ratchet rubbed his chin in thought. _**"Hmm, I don't think I saw him after that either. It might be possible that he did come back but either way we are going to have to find him, something just isn't right here,"**_

Bulkhead rolled his optics, "_**Yeah, it's not like the kid would just run off without telling anyone," **_Ratchet glared at him so he held up his servos in surrender "_**Okay, okay, I'll go get 'Bee and Arcee to help look for him,"**_

Ratchet nodded "_**Alright, I'll keep searching here in case he came back without anyone knowing,"**_

Bulkhead transformed and drove out of the base just as Optimus came into the room. "_**Ratchet, is something wrong?"**_

Ratchet looked up at the Prime and rubbed his temples "_**According to Arcee Smokescreen wasn't at the Darby's last night and no one has seen him at the base since yesterday evening,"**_

Optimus frowned "_**Ratchet, are you saying Smokescreen is missing?"**_

"_**Not exactly 'missing', we just don't know…" **_Ratchet's shoulders slumped with a huff "_**Yes,"**_

Optimus placed the container that had contained his morning energon ration before he drank it in his office in the sterilizer cabinet with the others "_**Need any help finding him?"**_

Ratchet shook his helm. "_**No, I know you want to try to decode the next set of Iacon coordinates so you might as well. Bulkhead is going to get Arcee and Bumblebee to help look in town while I search the base,"**_

Optimus placed a servo on Ratchet's shoulder. "_**Ratchet, I'm sure Smokescreen will find his way back eventually," **_a rare smirk crept up on the Prime's face plates "_**Who knows, maybe if you yell 'Smokescreen, I got energon treats for you!' loud enough he might come running like the time you lost him in the park back on Cybertron,"**_

"_**That might have worked when he was a sparkling but in the late stages of his Younglinghood he learned to peek out of wherever he was hiding to check first," **_Ratchet glared up at the Prime "_**And if memory serves me correctly the only reason he wandered off that solar cycle was because he saw you and Elita on another path and went over to say hello without telling me and he didn't come the first few times I called because **__you __**had energon goodies for him,"**_

Optimus chuckled at the memory _**"He still doesn't recognize me, does he?"**_

Ratchet shook his helm_** "No, he was really young when you became a Prime and didn't know you well enough to recognize you afterward,"**_

Optimus nodded "_**I miss being 'Uncle Orion'. Let me know if you need help finding him," **_The Prime went back to his usual spot at the terminal and started sifting through the data that came up on the screen while Ratchet went to look for the missing mech.

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After checking to make sure he didn't use the ground bridge to go anywhere, Ratchet looked for Smokescreen in the deeper parts of the base.

First he tried the vaults in case he was getting into the Iacon relics again. No sign of him there.

Next he checked the storage rooms; empty except for dusty crates and storage containers.

Training room, not there… Roof, proximity sensors would have caught him up there. '_Okay, where the Pit is he?'_

Finally, Ratchet went to the only place he hadn't looked; the 'Bots' quarters. He knew Smokescreen wouldn't have gone into anyone else's quarters, and judging by the fact he probably didn't _know _anyone else's passcodes and the way the key pads showed they were all locked from the outside he was right.

Then he came to the one Smokescreen had been assigned to, the one that used to be Cliffjumper's. This one was locked from the inside and he could sense traces of the Bond he had with Smokescreen on the other side of the door.

After unlocking the door with his medic's override code, he peeked inside the room and saw the berth was empty. Ratchet opened the door the rest of the way, saying "_**I know you're in here, come on out,"**_

The door swung inward and connected with something solid between it and the wall that emitted a clunk and a muffled "_**Ow!"**_

Ratchet looked behind the door and saw Smokescreen on the floor with a beat up old roll-up recharge mat underneath him and a tarp thrown across him. "_**Smokescreen, what are you doing on the floor?"**_

Smokescreen yawned and started to sit up. "_**Trying to get some recharge before I have to go get June…"**_ he checked the time on his internal chronometer and his optics widened "_**Scrap, I'm late!"**_ he jumped up but his legs got tangled and he wobbled around like a newborn colt trying to find his balance until Ratchet caught him.

"_**Easy, Smokescreen, and don't worry, Arcee brought June to work when she gave Jack a ride,"**_

Smokescreen stooped down to pack up his things and put them in his subspace, much like he had been doing since his Academy days. "_**Great, now I can add that to the list of reasons for her to be mad at me,"**_

Ratchet raised an optic ridge " _**'List'? What list?"**_

Smokescreen counted off on his digits "_**Yeah, along with the time I brought Jack with me when I went after the Star Saber, all those pranks we pulled, all the stupid stuff I said since I got here… the time I accidently put her arm-servo in a cast when we were Younglings back on Cybertron…"**_

Ratchet's shoulders slumped, he remembered that day too, but then he changed the subject. "_**But why were you on the floor? Is there something wrong with your berth?"**_

Smokescreen snorted wryly _**"That's just it, it's not **__my __**berth. It's his,"**_ Ratchet was silent, waiting for him to elaborate, so he did. "_**Did you see the look on her faceplates when she found out Prime was giving me Cliffjumper's old quarters?"**_

Ratchet looked at the floor and nodded; Arcee had looked about ready to throw him off the team herself when she heard that. "_**Let me guess, that's also on that little list of yours?"**_

Smokescreen nodded_** "Yep, number five on the list to be exact,"**_

Ratchet sent a message to the others saying that he found Smokescreen, also adding :Arcee, if you are just going to yell at him as soon as you get back to the base don't bother coming back until you've calmed down. I just found him passed out on the floor in his quarters.:

He closed off the link and lead Smokescreen out of the room and to the med. bay "_**So, when was the last time you actually got a decent recharge?"**_

Smokescreen thought about it then rubbed his arm servo, embarrassed "_**Three days ago…"**_

Ratchet's engine stuttered "_Three days?_ _**Smokescreen…"**_

The younger mech looked at him like a Youngling that got caught doing something they really shouldn't be doing. "_**You mad?"**_

For a moment Ratchet looked like he was going to be mad but he took a deep intake and let it out slowly to calm himself. "_**No, I'm not mad. I just don't understand why you would…" **_then Ratchet thought about it. '_Three days…'_ "_**Smokescreen… how long ago did you say Arcee had that night terror again?"**_

"…_**Three days ago,"**_ he mumbled

They arrived at the med. bay and Ratchet lead Smokescreen to a berth which Smokescreen obediently climbed on "_**Is she still having them?"**_

"_**Not that I know of, but you never know…"**_

Ratchet sighed, rubbing his temples "_**Smokescreen, I know you're concerned about her but you can't keep staying awake at night so you can keep a sensor on her,"**_

Smokescreen crossed his servos defensively and looked away "_**I don't, but I sometimes check on her just like I do with Jack and June when I'm finishing up patrol,"**_

Ratchet tapped on Smokescreen's helm in a "seriously, kid, use your head" fashion "_**By check on her you mean stare at her through the garage window and come running back to base when you're about to get caught. You're putting too much strain on your systems by staying out at night when you should be recharging," **_

Ratchet pushed him down so he was lying down on the berth. "_**Now recharge or I'll put you in stasis and manually initiate the defrag process," **_

Smokescreen's optics widened at him and shone brighter. "_**You wouldn't…"**_

Ratchet pressed a few buttons and took out the tube that was used to put Cybertronians into stasis for surgery. "_**Try me,"**_

Sighing in defeat, Smokescreen fell back against the berth and shuttered his optics to power down for recharge.

Once he was sure his patient was getting a much needed rest, Ratchet went out to the main area, just in time for the others to pull in.

Bulkhead and Arcee drove into the base and transformed once they were off the ramp. While Bulkhead went to the training room so he could work on getting back in shape, Arcee went over to stand by Ratchet where he was working on the same project he was before.

"_**So what was wrong with Smokescreen that he was passed out on the floor and why did you just assume I was just going to yell at him?"**_

Ratchet didn't even look up from his task to answer "_**Why do you care and why wouldn't you yell at him?"**_

Arcee looked at him in disbelief and threw her servos up "_**Ugh, why is it that Smokescreen has been almost nothing but trouble since he got here yet whenever I react to something stupid he says or does **__I'm__** the bad bitch?"**_

Ratchet looked up at her with cold steely optics and stepped away from his workbench and towards her. "_**Arcee, walk with me," **_he tilted his helm towards the hallway that lead to the quarters and his tone left no room for argument.

Arcee followed, wondering what the medic had to say to her that he couldn't just say out there.

When they were both further down the hall Ratchet crossed his arm-servos behind his back "_**If you must know, Smokescreen's systems were about to shut down from extremely low energy levels**_," He turned to look at her over his shoulder "_**Any idea why that is?"**_

Arcee shrugged "_**How should I know, he's been recharging here the past couple nights,"**_

Ratchet turned to face her. "_**True, he has been coming back to the base in the evenings, but that doesn't mean he's been recharging here,"**_

Completely out of habit, the femme cyclebot made a snide remark "_**What, his new quarters aren't good enough for him?"**_

"_**You mean Cliffjumper's old quarters?" **_Ratchet knew that was a low blow but he needed to see how she reacted to it in order to know how to proceed.

Arcee looked at the floor and tensed up like she had been hit in the fuel tank. She was about to walk away when Ratchet continued "_**Arcee, I know you miss Cliffjumper but his room was the only one we had available and for what it's worth I highly doubt you have to worry about any of Cliff's things being ruined because I was just in there and Smokescreen hasn't touched anything of Cliffjumper's since he got here,"**_

Arcee looked up at him in bewilderment "_**What?"**_

"_**Smokescreen has been recharging on a roll out pallet on the floor in the corner by the door whenever he recharges here and not a thing has even been moved in the room since Cliffjumper was in their last,"**_

Arcee stood there numbly so Ratchet walked away adding_** "If you don't believe me go look for yourself,"**_

Once he was gone, Arcee slowly walked over to the door to the quarters across from hers and entered the code into the keypad—still remembering it from when Cliffjumper gave it to her way back when in case she ever needed to talk in the middle of the night—but her servo hovered over the release.

She took a deep intake. '_Here goes nothing,' _ The door opened and she walked into the room, fighting back tears as all the memories of the previous occupant of that room came rushing back to her.

'_I am not going to cry, I am _NOT _going to cry…'_

That resolve went right out the proverbial window when she saw that aside from the thin layer of dust that had accumulated over the last few months everything was EXACTLY as Cliffjumper had left it.

The only evidence that anyone else had even been in the room was a spot in the corner by the door where the dust had been disturbed, like someone had been lying on the floor.

After crying silently for a few minutes, she wiped her optics and steeled herself to go back out to the main area where the others were with her usual mask of composure in place.

When she locked the door behind her she accessed a file stored into her processors to edit it; the file was titled "_Reasons to say 'no' to Smokescreen"_. She scrolled down to the bullet that said "Reason number five: _he took Cliffjumper's quarters and made himself at home."_

She deleted that off the list and all the reasons beneath it moved up one notch. '_One down, seven to go…'_ she walked away to meet up with the others to await orders. '_Meh, maybe six, Can't really hold this morning against him if what Ratchet says is true.' _

She saved the updates to the file, leaving one reason she repeated to herself on a daily basis at the top of the list.

"_It's for his own good."_

* * *

_**AN: Thanks to the people that reviewed and added; Kaleia (Guest), Nathan Kurono,**_

_**Any flames will be converted into high grade energon to get all the 'Bots drunk off their afts right before a big battle.**_


	6. Chapter 6

Where There Is Smoke

Chapter 6

Rated T for language

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story but OC's.

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

:comm. link:

[Texting]

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Spark feelings_

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years.

* * *

By the next day, Ratchet finally finished the first projector he was building and since he knew the others were hesitant to perform the first test run—he had overheard the whispered conversation they had when he told them he was building them, after all—he planned on installing it into himself and monitoring his systems while he transformed into his alt. mode to test it out.

As it turned out this was around late afternoon when the kids were brought to the base after school, Raf saw Ratchet was doing something with his armor before the red and white mech stepped towards the back of the med. bay where he would be partially hidden from view with the invention he had been working on for the past few days in his servo.

Curious, the young boy jogged over to where he could see Ratchet starting to remove some of the armor on his chassis. "Hey, Ratchet, what are you doing?"

Ratchet jumped and turned to see who had snuck up behind him. "Whoa-ah! Oh, you startled me, Raphael,"

Raf looked at him apologetically "Oops, sorry Ratchet,"

Ratchet gave the boy a half-hearted smile and waved him off. "If you must know, I just finished building a holoform projector that will enable us to blend in with the humans more easily while we are here on Earth,"

"But aren't you always saying that it would be better if you guys kept your distance from humans so no one finds out about you?"

Ratchet gripped the tool he was holding a little tighter than necessary, he didn't mean to sound like he _hated _humans he just didn't have any patience for some and didn't want to get to attached because even if they never did get back to Cybertron humans were short-lived and he knew it would eventually come to seeing them basically wilt like flowers before his optics until their time ran out.

He took a deep intake and simply said "This has been on my list of things to do for a long time, I figured I might as well get it done while I can," On a more positive note he added "Now that I have one finished and ran all the needed tests on it all it needs is a final test run,"

"Are you going to install it into yourself?"

"Well, no one else is willing to test it so I might as well,"

Raf looked up at his friend, concerned "But Ratchet, last time you tested something on yourself you went crazy and beat everyone up and you almost got killed by the 'Cons,"

Ratchet placed his servo on the ground for the boy to climb into and carefully placed him on the work bench where he could see. "Raphael, I assure you this isn't like the synth-en, it's just a projector like the one Arcee has for her holodriver, only we will be able to do more with it,"

Raf still wasn't entirely convinced so Ratchet added "You can watch, if you want,"

Raf crossed his arms "Okay, but if you pass out again or start acting weird I'm getting the others,"

Ratchet nodded and turned to shift some of his plating aside without exposing himself to Raf so he could slide the projector into place and route a few tubes and wires through his frame to attach them to the appropriate systems.

Once he was done he closed himself back up and stepped back into the main part of the med. bay where he would have more room to move. "Alright, not that that's done I can see if it affects my transformation sequence and see if it activates,"

Raf ran to the edge of the table and yelled for everyone else "HEY, EVERYBODY, RATCHET'S TESTING OUT A NEW PROJECTOR THING!"

The others all came over to see for themselves and Miko leaned on the guard rail surrounding the human's area. "Well, where's the cool new gadget?"

Ratchet knocked on his chest plating "Already installed,"

Prime spoke up in a deep tone "Ratchet, I thought we discussed that you were not going to experiment on yourself anymore,"

Ratchet nodded "Optimus, I assure you I have already ran every possible test multiple times, the only remaining variable left untested is whether or not the components of the projector will inhibit the transformation sequence and if the avatar itself will be accurate to the bot it is projected off of,"

Optimus thought about it and nodded "Proceed,"

Ratchet nodded and transformed into vehicle mode without a hitch. "Okay, transformation sequence was not inhibited, now activating the projector," a small light flashed inside the cab of Ratchet's alt. mode which went still.

Everyone waited with baited breath when nothing happened. Raf climbed down the staircase that lead up to the tabletop and went to stand next to the ambulance. "Ratchet, are you okay?"

Slowly, the driver's side door of the ambulance opened and a tall man in his late forties with red hair that was graying on the top and blue eyes stepped out. He was wearing white cargo pants with a red shirt under a white lab coat that reached his knees and a pair of combat boots.

He looked at his hands like he never seen them before and spoke with Ratchet's voice "Huh, it works,"

Raf warily stepped up to Ratchet's holoform. "Ratchet, is that you?"

Ratchet's holoform rolled its eyes. "Yes, Of course it's me,"

Miko cat called from the railing "Hey, Ratchet, looking good for an old 'Bot,"

Ratchet simply called back "Miko, I'm Bonded,"

Miko looked to Bulkhead for an explanation "He means he's married,"

Miko looked back at Ratchet in disbelief "Whoa, you mean the Doc Bot actually managed to find someone?"

Ratchet crossed his arms "And why is _that _so hard to believe?"

Raf carefully reached out and touched Ratchet's holoform arm. "Whoa, it feels real,"

Ratchet gently ruffled the boy's hair. "It's a solid light hologram, it's supposed to feel real," He looked at up at the others "And as soon as I can get more built we can all use them," he did a double take and looked up at the other 'Bots mumbling "Are we really that gigantic?"

Smokescreen held up his servo "Can I have the next one?"

Bulkhead looked over at him. "How come you get the next one?"

"You guys didn't even want one!"

Arcee stepped between them "Guys, guys, if you keep this up neither of you are going to get one,"

Ratchet's holoform disappeared and he transformed back into robot mode. "Besides, I was going to let Arcee have the next one anyway because she is already more reliant on a hologram when she drives than the rest of us,"

Miko piped up "Yeah, guys, ladies first!"

Arcee looked over at Ratchet "How long until it's done?"

Ratchet crossed his arm-servos with one servo on his chin in thought. "Well, since I already know how everything is put together it shouldn't take as long as the first one did and since I just need to upgrade the one you already have it should be done by the time you need to pick up Jack from work,"

Arcee nodded "You need to take mine out to work on it?"

Ratchet gestured to a berth in the med. bay "Right this way," while she walked past him to have a seat on the berth he looked at the others. "In the meantime the rest of you think about what you want your holoforms to look like. They'll be moderately close to what your real bodies look like but we want them to look human so do what you want for hair, clothes, skin, et cetera,"

Everyone went back to what they were doing—except for Miko who wanted to help Bulkhead create his human guise right away—while Ratchet went over to Arcee.

While he got out his tools and laid them out on a tray where they were in easy reach, the medic asked her "_**So, have you ever thought about what you might look like human?"**_

Arcee averted her optics nervously. "_**Once or twice,"**_

Ratchet undid the clasps on her armor so he could get to the projector. "_**Well, you got about an hour or so before this is ready so you might want to think about it some more," **_he carefully extracted the part and wrapped the loose wires around it once it was pulled away. "_**Okay, you're free to go for now. I'll let you know when it's ready to be installed,"**_

Arcee got up and went over to see what the others were doing.

As it turned out with the exception of Optimus they were all planning what they wanted their holoforms to look like; Bumblebee—who had finally gotten rid of the worst of the skunk smell and was allowed in the base again—and Raf were huddled over the boy's computer looking at picture's online to get some ideas for Bumblebee's holoform while Miko and Bulkhead looked at pictures on the girl's phone and flipped through TV channels to see if there was anything Bulkhead liked.

Smokescreen was just leaning against the wall off to the side but by the way he was staring off into space with dim optics occasionally nodding to himself or frowning and shaking his helm he was on the internet too.

Bumblebee caught sight of her and buzzed **(_Hey, 'Cee, need help figuring out what you want your holoform to look like?)**_

The femme smiled at him "No thanks, 'Bee. I already have my holodriver so I just need to add some more details to it. I think I already know how it's going to turn out,"

Bumblebee smiled at her and beeped **(_Okay, let me know if you change your mind)**_

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As promised, about an hour or so later Ratchet called Arcee back into the med. bay to reinstall her projector; while he performed the procedure he explained to her the minute differences between her old projector and her upgraded holoform one and gave her a refresher course on how it worked.

Once he was done he let her up "Alright, Arcee, try it out,"

The others gathered around to watch as she transformed and activated her holoform.

It was just like her old holodriver except instead of being completely clad in dark leather and a helmet she had her usual jacket and pants but the jacket was partially unzipped to reveal a navy blue V-neck shirt underneath and it had a patch sewn on the sleeve that marked her as a military lieutenant, she had black fingerless gloves that had pink Velcro straps around the wrist and her nails were painted gun metal gray and her boots had a band of pink around the top.

They were all surprised the slight changes, but were completely shocked when the driver did something it never did before; it put down the kickstand and _got off _the seat to stand next to Arcee's alt. mode.

Arcee reached up and pulled her helmet off to reveal a tall woman somewhere in her twenties. She still looked like herself but human rather than Cybertronian; she had dark hair that was mostly short with navy streaks in it except for a few pieces of hair that was kept long and dyed pink to frame her face which had a pale complexion that was flawless except for a tiny line across her cheek formed by a faint scar that had faded with time.

Miko gave her a thumbs-up "Looking good, Arcee,"

Bumblebee whistled **(_Yeah, 'Cee, you're holoform looks pretty,)_**

Arcee smiled at them "Thanks,"

Ratchet clasped his servos together. "Alright, who's next?"

Smokescreen waved his servo at the others "You guys go ahead, I'm still deciding what I want mine to look like,"

"Smokescreen, it's still going to look like you, the only thing there is to really decide on is hair, skin and clothes,"

Smokescreen smirked "I know but I want it to look good,"

Ratchet looked at Optimus who was walking back to the console and pointed at Bumblebee. "Bumblebee gets the next one as soon as it's done because he's the only one that hasn't argued about it yet,"

**(_YAY!)_**

Optimus rumbled from his place by the computer terminal "_**Bumblebee, you are **__not __**getting that "Bee-otch" tattoo I saw you looking at on Raphael's computer a moment ago,"**_

'Bee pouted. **(_Busted.)**_

Ratchet looked down at Arcee's holoform on his way back to his workbench. "If you want to, Arcee, you can go to the training room and see how well your holoform works for you,"

"Okay," Arcee put her helmet on her alt. mode's handlebars and jogged away in the direction of the training room.

Smokescreen followed her "I'll go spot her,"

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After another hour in the training room, Arcee found out that her holoform was just as strong as her real body, she could run just as fast and she didn't seem to tire at all in that time.

By the time she finished in the training room it was time for her to go pick up Jack. '_Oh, will he be surprised,' _she went back out to the main area and climbed aboard her alt. mode. "Going to get Jack, be back soon,"

Raf looked over and asked "How are you going to explain your holoform if anyone asks?"

Smokescreen came back into the room "I overheard Jack talking to some girl with red hair the other day, he told her you were his cousin 'Sadie',"

Arcee grabbed her helmet and put it on "He told Sierra I was his cousin? He and I are going to have a little talk about that later," she revved her engine and drove out of the base to pick up her charge.

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At the K.O. Burger, Jack stood at the drive thru window taking yet another order "Welcome to the K.O. Burger, where every patty is a knock out, can I take your order?" the customer ordered the usual combo meal. While he fixed the customer's order he heard someone say his name outside. He looked and saw Sierra standing on the median strip on the other side of the drive through lane. "Hey, Sierra, how's it going?"

Sierra smiled at him "Fine, how are you?"

While they were talking the customer circled around to the window; unfortunately the customer turned out to be Vince who just waited until Jack set the bag containing the other teen's order on the ledge so he could swing by and take it before speeding off with free food.

"Hey! Great, now I have to pay for that,"

Sierra recognized the black car with yellow flames and yelled after it. "Vince!"

The car didn't get far because a navy blue motorcycle pulled out in front of him, revving its engine like a growling animal. Vince leaned out the window and yelled "Hey, stupid, you're going the wrong way!"

The motorcycle's engine revved again as it rolled closer, the female driver yelling back in a warning tone "I think you're the one going the wrong way. Don't think I didn't see you try to drive off without paying,"

Vince grumbled to himself as he put the car into reverse and rolled back to the window since no one else had pulled in behind him yet. "How much was it again?" he spat at Jack under his breath

Jack smiled at him like he did with any other customer "Five fifty nine, please,"

Vince handed him the money and left as soon as he got his change back and the motorcycle blocking his path got out of his way.

Sierra watched all this happen with her mouth slightly open. When Vince was gone she looked at Jack and nodded towards Arcee. "Friend of yours?"

Jack looked at her "Oh yeah, you remember I told you about my cousin Sadie?" he waved at Arcee and to his surprise she pulled onto the lane on the other side of the strip Sierra was standing on. "Sierra, this is my cousin Sadie. Sadie, this is Sierra, I know her from school,"

Arcee removed her helmet to reveal her human face—Jack had to keep his surprise hidden to keep up the ruse—and smiled at the red haired girl "So you're Sierra. Nice to finally meet you," she held out her hand and the two girls shook hands.

Sierra smiled at her "Nice to meet you too,"

Arcee pulled her hand back and looked over at Jack "You ready to go, Jack? Your shift was supposed to end at six,"

Jack looked at his watch "I know, just waiting for the guy that's supposed to take over to get here,"

Arcee let her holoform lean on her handle bars "Okay, I can wait,"

Sierra looked over at "Sadie". "So… why did you pull in front of Vince's car like that? He could have hurt you,"

Arcee shrugged. "He doesn't scare me. I'm in the military,"

Sierra looked impressed. "Wow, that's cool. What do you do?"

"I'm mostly a scout, but sometimes when the actual commander isn't there I get to lead the missions, which is why I get this here," she tapped the Lieutenant patch on her sleeve. "So, what about you?"

Sierra rubbed her arm "Oh, nothing fancy. I'm on the school's cheerleading squad, but that's probably nothing compared to the military,"

"Cheerleading? That sounds cool,"

"Were you ever a cheerleader?"

Arcee shook her head "No, the school I went to didn't even _have _a cheerleading squad,"

While Jack finished with his shift the two of them shared a friendly conversation, all the while Arcee was careful not to say anything that would reveal her to be an alien robot from another planet.

Soon enough, Jack came out and made his way over to them, trying to juggle his backpack and helmet while trying to put said backpack on his back.

"Okay, Sadie, ready when you are," he looked at Sierra, who was already starting to shiver from being outside for so long. "Sierra, do you have someone coming to pick you up?"

Sierra politely waved him off. "No, but that's okay, I'll walk,"

Seeing the look on Jack's face, "Sadie" climbed off of Arcee's alt. mode. "Hey, Jack, why don't you give Sierra a ride, I'll walk,"

Sierra shook her head. "Oh no, I couldn't make you do that,"

Arcee smiled at her and set her helmet on the seat for the girl to use before walking away. "I'm military, remember? A nice long walk isn't going to kill me. See you later, Jack. Nice meeting you Sierra,"

"Ok, later,"

"Nice meeting you too,"

Jack put on his helmet and handed "Sadie's" helmet to Sierra before the two climbed on Arcee's alt. mode.

Arcee deactivated her holoform as soon as it was out of sight so she could rev her engine as Jack pretended to start "his motorcycle" and drive away.

As they drove, Jack and Sierra talked, raising their voices to be heard over the sound of Arcee's engine.

"Your cousin seems really nice,"

Jack smirked "Yeah, just don't get on her bad side. Last guy that did that was in a hospital bed for at least a day,"

Sierra tightened her hold around Jack's waist. "So are you still going to the dance? It's the day after tomorrow,"

Jack hesitated before answering "I don't know, I'm not that great of a dancer,"

Sierra rolled her eyes "You don't have to actually dance, you can just come and hang out if you want,"

"I'll think about it,"

They dropped Sierra off at her house she climbed off and handed him "Sadie's" helmet back. "Thanks for the lift, Jack,"

Jack smiled back, though she probably couldn't see it through his helmet. "No problem. So, see you later?"

"See you later," Sierra walked up her driveway to her house.

Jack put "Sadie's" helmet in the compartment under the seat, only for it to disappear once it was inside, and climbed back on. "Okay, how did you do that thing with your holodriver earlier?"

For the first time since she used the holoform, Arcee's voice came out the speakers. "Ratchet has been making special projectors so we can use holoforms to blend in with the humans. It looks and feels like the real deal. So when were you going to tell me we were cousins?"

Jack blushed with embarrassment "Sorry, that was a spur of the moment cover today,"

"No, not just today. Sorry, "Cuz", but Smokescreen snitched on you earlier,"

Jack let go of one of the handlebars to face palm "Smokescreen…"

They stopped at a stop sign "So are you actually going to that dance?"

Jack sighed "I don't know. I don't usually go to dances. Unless you forgot, the reason I met you was because I was avoiding a dance,"

Arcee hummed "I remember, your mom called and asked if you were going and you said 'past experiences say that I should _never _cut a rug… unless I'm installing carpet'. Then you hung up on her and started feeling me up right there in the parking lot until the 'Cons came and chased us,"

Jack blushed even redder behind his helmet. "I SAID I WAS SORRY!"

Arcee chuckled and resumed driving back to the base. "I know. How about we head back to the base so we can warm up and I'm sure you want to see what the other's holoforms look like,"

Jack _was_ interested. "Who all has theirs?"

"Ratchet made his first so he could test it out, then he made mine because I already had a projector for him to work with because I need it more than the guys that have closed cabs and he was working on Bumblebee's when I left,"

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When they got back to base they saw Raf sitting on the couch in the human's area next to a tall young man with blond hair and big baby blue eyes wearing a yellow T-shirt that had short sleeves and a turtleneck with painted black jeans and combat boots. The guy saw them and waved.

Jack started to climb up the stairs and turned back to Arcee. "You can come up too if you want,"

Arcee hesitated before she transformed and parked her alt. mode next to Bumblebee's and activated her holoform to follow Jack up the steps. She leaned against the railing while Jack went to sit in a chair by the couch. "Hey, Raf. I'm guessing that's Bumblebee sitting next to you,"

Bumblebee's holoform looked at Jack and smiled "Hi Jack,"

Jack did a double take and fell out of the chair in shock "Whoa, did you just…"

Arcee was surprised too. "'Bee, how are you able to talk again?"

Bumblebee smiled at her and spoke in a soft raspy voice, like someone who had a really bad cold. "Since I'm in my holoform and the only reason I couldn't talk before was because my voice box was smashed I can still talk. I still got the scar though,"

He pulled down the neck of his shirt and they saw that right where an Adam's apple should have been there was nothing but pink, unnaturally smooth scare tissue.

Jack looked at him in sympathy. "Ah man, sorry Bumblebee,"

"It's okay,"

To change the subject, Arcee asked "Does anyone else have their holoforms yet?"

Raf shook his head. "No, Optimus wants to wait until everyone else has theirs before he gets his put in and Smokescreen and Bulkhead are both on patrol. Right now Miko's trying to convince Ratchet to build Bulkhead's next so she can see what his looks like,"

From over by the med. bay area they heard Ratchet shout "ALRIGHT, I'LL BUILD BULKHEAD'S FIRST! JUST PLEASE LEAVE ME ALONE SO I CAN GET SOME WORK DONE!"

They all looked over and saw Miko striding up to them looking quite pleased with herself. "Sounds like she succeeded,"

Miko climbed up the metal staircase to the human's area and flopped on the couch with Raph and Bumblebee, barely able to contain her excitement. "I can't wait for Bulkhead to get back from patrol,"

Raf looked over at her "Miko, Bulkhead and Smokescreen will be back soon, but Ratchet might not even get the next one done by then. It took him a while to get 'Bee's done, and it's probably going to take longer because you kept bugging him,"

Bumblebee piped up "Actually, I think Bulkhead's going to get back first, Smokescreen's been taking longer patrols lately and Bulk's still on light duty so he doesn't go as far. So you didn't have to bug Ratchet anyway,"

Sometime later, Bulkhead came rolling into base with his engine rumbling and Miko came running to greet him like an excited puppy.

Ratchet looked out to see what the commotion was about "Oh, good you're back. I just need to test the circuitry of your new holoform projector and it will be ready to be installed,"

Miko jumped around by her guardian's peds excitedly. "Come on, Ratchet, what's taking so long?"

Ratchet huffed exasperatingly "What's taking so long is you were wasting my time trying to convince me to build the next projector for Bulkhead when I was going to do it anyway. If you would have just left me be I would have finished both this one and be almost done with the next one by now,"

He hooked up the devise to a battery and prodded it in specific places with two small energon prods until he was satisfied with the results. "There, it's finished. Your turn Bulkhead,"

"Ah sweet!" Miko punched the air while Bulkhead went over to the med. bay and lay down on the closest berth.

Once the ex-Wrecker's chest plating was opened, Ratchet carefully slid the projector into place and held it with one servo while routing the cables and tubes into the correct systems with the other before securing it in place with a metal band he welded into place.

"There, finished," Ratchet closed Bulkhead back up and helped him up. "Go on, go test it out. Miko has been overly anxious to see the new you all day," The medic cleaned his tools so they were ready for the next patient while Bulkhead walked out into the more open area and transformed.

It was all Miko could do to not run over and throw the green truck's doors open but after a few minutes the driver's side door swung open and out stepped a very tall and heavily muscled man with short cropped brown hair and blue eyes stepped out.

Bulkhead's holoform was wearing a green muscle shirt and tan cargo pants with combat boots. He smiled down at Miko "What do you think?"

Miko squealed and ran up to the holoform for a closer look "_Damn_, Bulk, Look at you! Look at those _muscles!" _she reached out and squeezed his arms to feel said muscles and felt very realistic rock-hard bicep muscles.

She also noticed Bulkhead's holoform was covered in old battle scars, some of which looked like chemical burns where he came in contact with the "Tox-En" a while back. She gently traced those scars with her fingers along with the others on his arm, wondering how he got them all.

Catching her off guard, Bulkhead wrapped his arm around her and hefted her up on his shoulders and spun around with her, inciting shrieks of laugher from the girl. "Oh yeah? How do you like them now?"

Miko swatted at his back "Um, Bulk… I think I'm gonna heave…"

Knowing "heave" was one of the many human words for purging, Bulkhead set her down on her feet. "Sorry, Miko,"

Miko checked if her hair had been messed up "Don't worry about it. It was actually kind of fun. Now how 'bout we go to the training room and see what you can do in that new bod?"

Bulkhead patted her on the back "Sounds like a plan to me," he followed close behind her as she scurried off to the training room.

Ratchet rolled his optics "Finally, now I can get some work done," he got all his equipment ready to start on the next projector.

About fifteen minutes later, Smokescreen got back to the base via the ground bridge so that if the 'Cons were tracking him they wouldn't see him drive back to the base. "Hey guys, what did I miss?"

Arcee called over from her spot next to Jack where she, Jack, Raf and Bumblebee were watching a movie. "Prime hasn't unlocked the next set of coordinates, if that's what you're asking. You and he are the only ones that haven't gotten your holoform projectors yet; Ratchet is working on the next one right now. Other than that there really wasn't anything to miss,"

Smokescreen came over to see what they were doing. "What are you guys watching?"

"Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, it's about these four turtles and a guy who used to be a martial arts sensei in Japan that moved to New York that came in contact with some toxic mutagen and the turtles become humanoid and the man turns into a giant rat. The rat guy adopts the four turtles as his sons and teaches them ninjutsu while they all live in the sewers to hide from one of the guy's students that want them dead,"

"Cool," Smokescreen carefully leaned against the railing to watch with them. Arcee flinched when he almost clipped her with his elbow joint but she didn't move away.

After watching the "Ninja Turtles" it was around time to bring the kids home. They were a little disappointed that they weren't going to be able to see Optimus or Smokescreen's holoforms but the latter promised he would show them his the next day if Ratchet got the projectors done by then.

After an hour after the kids left Ratchet called Smokescreen over "_**Smokescreen, your turn**_,"

The young cadet looked over at Optimus, who hadn't strayed from the terminal all day except to refuel and to look at the other bots' holoforms. "_**You sure you don't want yours first, Optimus?"**_

Optimus didn't even look away from the console when he answered. "_**I am positive, Smokescreen. Due to your duties as June's guardian you will be amongst the humans far more than myself which would mean you would need it more than I would,"**_

Smokescreen hesitated before walking over to where Ratchet waited to install his holoform projector. "_**Okay, if you say so,"**_

Just like all of the others, Ratchet had Smokescreen lie down on a berth and open his chest plates so he could install the projector and route all the cables and tubes into the right places. The entire process of building and installing the mod went faster each time because he knew what to do and soon enough Smokescreen's holoform projector was fully operational.

Once he was able to step out and transform he activated his holoform and showed Ratchet; his holoform depicted a tall young man whose features held subtle hints of an Asian heritage. He had bright red hair that was gelled into little spikes and blue eyes and he stood at about the same height as Bumblebee's—about six foot one—but was a couple years older, possibly in his twenties like Arcee's holoform while 'Bee was in his late teens.

Smokescreen had chosen to dress his holoform in red and white jacket that was made to look like a military uniform jacket but it was only buttoned halfway up to show more of the blue shirt he wore underneath with white cargo pants and combat boots.

He was also wearing a pair of dog tags around his neck but Ratchet couldn't make out what they said without leaning closer.

Smokescreen smiled and held up his arms "_**So, how do I look?"**_

Ratchet snorted and simply replied "_**Human,"**_ before returning to work.

Smokescreen shrugged before deactivating his holoform and transforming and went to occupy himself until it was closer to the time he was supposed to go pick up June.

He looked over at the humans' area and saw they left their video game controllers out and the console on. After looking around to see if anybot was watching, Smokescreen went back into vehicle mode and projected his holoform up onto the platform where he sat on the couch and picked up a controller.

"_**Okay, how does this thing work again?"**_ Since he had played the game online before the only tricky part was figuring out how the actual handheld controller worked but once he figured it out he was able to start a new one-player game.

After racing against the program car for a good hour, Smokescreen decided he had better get going if he wanted to be at the hospital when June got off work so he saved his game and set the controller down before sliding down the railing on the stairs—he had seen it done on the human TV and wanted to try it himself—and was about to leave when he realized something, the forecast called for rain and he didn't know if the holoforms could get wet or not if he needed to use it out in the rain.

He went over to Ratchet. "_**Hey, Ratchet, can the holoforms get wet?"**_

Ratchet didn't answer right away, he just went over to a Cybertronian sized sink that had been set up in the corner of the med. bay and washed some grease and other residues off of his servos. While he had them under the water he cupped them together and let the liquid pool in his cupped servos before throwing over Smokescreen's holoform.

"_EEP! __**That's cold!" **_ Smokescreen flinched away and instinctively wrapped his arms around himself to retain heat.

Ratchet smirked over at him "_**Does that answer your question?"**_

Smokescreen tried to dry himself off as much as he could and wrung out his holoform's shirt. "Yeah, it answers two other questions too. One, holoforms can feel cold and two, the kids are right, you're _mean!"_

He dropped dwon on all fours and shook himself like a dog, coming back up completely dry. "_**I'd better go pick up June. See you later," **_ he ran over to his alt. mode and slid across his hood and jumped into the open driver's side window—again, saw it on TV, _really _wanted to try it himself—and drove out of the base.

On his way back to town, he set a text to the others saying [Just found out holoforms can get wet. Don't ask Ratchet, he just throw H2O U. That stuff was cold!]

After a few minutes he got responses.

Miko: [LOL]

Bulkhead: [LMFAO! ] Smokescreen looked up what that one meant and chuckled to himself.

Bumblebee: [ino, Don & Carlos dumped H2O on me & Raf when we got back.]

Raf's response was the same as his partner's.

Jack: [Yeah that's Ratchet 4 u. but if they couldn't get wet wouldn't Arcee's have shorted out by now?]

Arcee simply texted: [Good 2 know.]

At first Smokescreen was glad she responded at all, at least she didn't hate him so much she ignored the message.

But then Jack texted him [Arcee just got ur message, she's ROTFL right now]

A quick internet search told him "ROTFL" meant "rolling on the floor laughing"; that's why she kept her message short, she was laughing at him.

When he pulled into the parking lot he found a space where June would be able to see him when she came out and he would be able to see her if she didn't and parked himself in it. Once he was situated, he deactivated his holoform and settled on his axles to wait.

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By the time Nurse Darby got off her shift she was exhausted and just wanted to go home and hopefully see her son before crawling into bed.

As she shrugged on her coat she checked the messages on her phone and found one was from Jack checking in and another was from Smokescreen that said [I'm outside, get in the passenger side 2night, I want to show you something.]

June was confused by this but she went outside and went to her guardian's alt. mode when he flashed his lights at her to let her know where he was and opened the passenger side door for her.

She climbed in and fastened her seatbelt as the door closed "Alright, Smokescreen, what was it you wanted to show me?"

"This," he activated his holoform in the driver's seat.

June was startled when a strange young man suddenly appeared next to her and flinched away.

Smokescreen saw she was about to scream and held his hands up "Whoa, take it easy, it's me,"

June slowly moved back into her seat "Smokescreen?"

The holoform smiled at her "Yeah, Ratchet has been working on holoform projectors for all of us,"

"Like the one Arcee uses when Jack's not with her?"

Smokescreen reached down to the ignition and "started" his engine before pulling out and driving away. "Yeah, he upgraded hers too, now we can blend in more easily,"

June watched Smokescreen's holoform through the corner of her eye, she kept thinking it was going to suddenly disappear and it was rather handsome; he looked like he just stepped out of a Tommy Hilfiger magazine that had a "Support our troops" themed ad.

When they got back to the Darby's house, Smokescreen pulled into the driveway and let June out so she could go inside. June saw he hadn't pulled up to the garage so he could go in. "Are you staying in the garage tonight or going back to base?"

Smokescreen's holoform slumped back against the seat, head tilting back slightly "I think I'll just head back to base again tonight. I'll try not to be late again tomorrow morning, sorry about that,"

June folded her arms to keep warm while looking at him with concern. "It's okay, Ratchet told me where you were. Why don't you stay here? If running back and forth is so much trouble why do you keep doing it every day?"

Smokescreen was quiet for a moment before he looked at the garage. "Is she still upset with me?" There was no doubt which "she" he meant.

June smiled sympathetically "Smokescreen, from the sound of things Arcee has been through a lot. She's probably just lashing out so she can hide how hurt she is. Jack tells me she was the same way with him when they first met. Give her time, she'll come around,"

June went inside to let her words sink in, little did the two know the object of their conversation had been listening in through the garage door the entire time.

Just as Smokescreen was about to pull out of the drive way, the garage door started to slide open. "_**Isn't it a little cold out to be outside tonight?"**_

Smokescreen hesitated and answered back "_**Didn't think you'd want me around after all that's happened,"**_

Arcee backed out and pulled ahead at an angle to park further to the side. "_**Just get in here. And remember…"**_

Smokescreen smirked internally "_**I know, I know, Stay on my side," **_he pulled into the garage alongside her and the two of them powered down for recharge.

* * *

_**AN: Thank you for taking the time to read this. Here are some energon goodies for the people that reviewed or added this story:**_ _** Anvenx, Kaleia (Guest), Designation M, DarkDrago, Darkpool, LadyBonBon, San child of the wolves, Death Night of Camelot, KiraDaughterofPoseidon,**_

_**Comments, suggestions and predictions are welcome. I apologize for glitching out on everyone the last few chapters, I was overreacting and I'm sorry. If you haven't been following this story closely you probably won't know what I'm talking about because I went and deleted my end-of-the-chapter rant.**_


	7. Chapter 7

Where There Is Smoke

Chapter 7

Rated T

Disclaimer: I own nothing in this story but OC's and if there's anything in the characters' back stories here that isn't mentioned in the show it's either a reference to another series or I made it up for the story.

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

"_Talking on the phone or recordings"_

:comm. link:

[Texting]

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Spark feelings_

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years.

* * *

Arcee woke up in the middle of the night, unable to resume recharge. Instead she turned her attention to the white sports car in the garage next to her. Not wanting to actually wake him up she whispered in his general direction to see if he was awake himself. "_**Smokescreen?"**_

His systems started to hum louder, he _had _been awake but he pretended to be in recharge so he didn't wake her up. "_**What is it, Arcee?"**_

The blue motorcycle hesitated—by Primus, she felt like a scared little kid sneaking into their parents' room in the middle of the night after a nightmare—before asking a question that had been plaguing her processors for a while. "_**The other day when we fought Knockout in that quarry, he mentioned knowing your femme Creator. What did he mean by that?"**_

Smokescreen sighed and activated his holoform so it was lying on his hood so he could look at her when he talked to her "_**As you can probably guess from what you've already been told my Carrier is a mech but my Sire is a femme,"**_

Arcee was quiet, while it was possible for both mechs and femmes to either Sire or Carry sparklings it was incredibly rare for a femme to Sire a sparkling with a mech Carrier.

Smokescreen stared at the ceiling with his arms folded behind his head, only occasionally looking at her when he told the story.

"_**I was just a youngling at the time… my Carrier was at work so my Sire was picking me up from the Youngling Center. On the way home a mech I had never seen before saw us from across the street. He looked at my Sire like she was a cube of high grade and crossed the street to lean on a wall that was ahead of us. Sire somehow knew something was up so she told me to stay behind her so I did. The strange mech, Knockout, looked Sire up and down and said some really corny pickup lines and expected her to fall for them. She didn't and tried to get around him while holding me behind her but he grabbed her by the arm-servo and pinned her against the wall and said '**__Where are you off to in such a rush, beautiful?' __**Sire tried to pull away and said '**__Anywhere you aren't!'__** he got mad and slammed her into the wall, hard. I got scared and tried to scream for help but he just knocked me away from her and…"**_

Smokescreen stopped for a moment, not wanting to remember but continued "_**Luckily, there was an Enforcer nearby and the coward ran before things got any worse but he almost managed to force himself on her, right out in the open…" …**__Right in front of me._ The last part went unsaid but Arcee still understood.

"_**I'm sorry," **_What else could she say? "_**I know people say that a lot for moments like this but I really am sorry that happened,"**_

Smokescreen's holoform shrugged "_**Don't be, it wasn't your fault. Besides, that just gives me another reason to kick his aft when I see him in battle,**_"

Arcee snorted "_**Knockout, in a battle? Don't hold your breath. If he ever does show up for an actual fight how about I hold him and you punch?"**_

Smokescreen's holoform smiled at her "_**Sounds like a plan to me,"**_ the smile disappeared "_**Sorry, didn't mean to keep you from recharge,"**_

Arcee turned her front wheel from side to side like she was shaking her helm "_**You didn't, I was up anyway," **_She looked over at Smokescreen's holoform, realizing this was the first time she had actually seen it. '_He actually did a good job with it. He looks pretty good,'_ she mentally shook herself '_Where did that come from?'_

The two powered down again to try to get a few more hours of recharge before their charges woke up.

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The next morning, Arcee revved her engine as loud as she could before yelling "JACK, GET UP! YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE!"

Smokescreen resisted the urge to snicker; his sensors told him that Jack was running the shower upstairs so he probably couldn't hear her. He activated his holoform and knocked on the door leading into the house.

June opened the door and took about a second to recognize the holoform. "Oh, morning Smokescreen,"

Smokescreen smiled at her "Morning June, is Jack ready yet?"

June crossed her arms "Sorry, I think he just got out of the shower,"

"I kind of figured that, I could hear the water running from the garage but Arcee's about ready to climb up to his window and drag him to school whether he's ready or not. Mind if I have a word with him?"

June pointed to the stairs, "His room is upstairs, take a right at the top of the stairs, his room is the one at the end of the hall on the left side,"

"Thanks," he smiled as he stepped past her and followed her directions while thinking to himself '_Huh, so this is what the inside of a human house looks like,'_

He made it to the top of the stairs in time to see the door June told him to find close like someone was rushing into the room and closing the door behind him. Smokescreen went over and knocked on the door.

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Inside his room, Jack rushed to finish getting ready. He had brought his pants and underwear in the bathroom with him now he just needed to find a clean shirt and socks, put on deodorant, comb his hair and grab his bag on the way out the door before his guardian decided to either throw all caution to the wind and grab him out through his window or drive off without him—last week she pretended to do so and he ran several blocks since he hadn't gotten his old bike back from when he rode it to the base a while back before she pulled up and picked him up halfway.

While he was trying to multitask by putting on deodorant while combing his hair to save time he heard a knock on his door "Hey Jack, you almost ready?"

'_Odd, that sounded like Smokescreen, but it was inside the house, how would he have gotten in…_' Jack remembered and mumbled to himself "Oh, right, holoforms" he went over to the door and opened it to look out.

Smokescreen's holoform was standing out in the hallway with his arms crossed. Jack stared for a moment before saying "Nice holoform,"

Smokescreen smiled "Thanks, nice… um… what are those things on your peds called again?"

Jack looked down at his feet where Smokescreen was pointing and groaned; not only did he accidently grab mismatch socks but one of them was one of his old NASCAR socks he had gotten for Christmas a couple years back.

"Oh, man, how could I not notice that?" he went back to his sock drawer and found the right sock and switched it out for the NASCAR one which he threw in the drawer. "Okay, just need to put on a shirt, grab my back pack and I'm good to go," he pulled on his shirt on his way to the chair he had hung his back pack on and threw it over his shoulder on his way out while trying to put on his jacket.

Smokescreen stepped out of his way and followed him downstairs, only to hit his head on the spot where the stairwell met the ground floor ceiling and slide down about three steps before catching himself.

Jack turned to see if he was alright while June came running to the foot of the stairs to see who fell and if he and Jack were both okay. "Smokescreen, are you alright?"

Smokescreen sat up, rubbing his forehead. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just didn't think the ceiling was that low," he climbed to his feet and walked down the remaining stairs while Jack quickly kissed his mom goodbye and ran out to the garage where Arcee was losing what little patience she had left.

June smiled up at him after Jack was out the door. "Don't feel bad, when we first moved in Jack's dad used to hit his head on that thing every time he came downstairs for about a month and he was the same height your holoform is,"

Smokescreen looked at her with sympathy "Um, I'm sorry that happened to you and…"

June held up her hand "Don't be. I'm sure Rod had a reason," her toned firmed "But if he left without giving said reason he better not come back with a bad excuse,"

Smokescreen smiled at her "Ready to go?"

June put her coffee cup in the sink and grabbed her bag. "Ready when you are,"

The two of them went out into the garage, got into Smokescreen's alt. mode and drove away.

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By the time Smokescreen got back to the base everyone else was already there; Optimus was once again plugging away at the terminal, Ratchet was doing whatever Ratchet does when there are no emergencies 'Con related or otherwise and the other three were talking amongst themselves.

He pulled in and transformed, Bulkhead saw him and called him over "_**Hey, Smokescreen, I heard you got to go inside a human house this morning. What was it like?"**_

Smokescreen shrugged "_**It was okay, it was actually a lot like the houses back on Cybertron, just not Cybertronian. So did I miss anything?"**_

Arcee looked at him with one servo on her hip "_**Still on standby. How's your helm?"**_

'_Slaggit, Jack must have told her.' _Smokescreen half-smiled and rubbed the back of his neck "_**Fine, just fine,"**_

Around midday, the 'Bots got a call from Fowler "_Prime, do you read me?"_

Optimus stepped away from his terminal to stand before the main computer where he and Fowler could see each other "I am here, Agent Fowler, to what do we owe this call?"

"_Our instruments just picked up an unidentified energy signature, we think it might be Cybertronian,"_

Smokescreen looked over at the others "I thought Agent Foul-mouth just said the energy signature was unidentified,"

Fowler looked past Prime at the young Praxian "_I'm sorry, who are you again?"_

Optimus gave Smokescreen a hand signal that meant "Be quiet," and addressed the screen "Agent Fowler, Smokescreen has been with us for some time now,"

"_Smokescreen? Oh, you're the one that helped 'Two-ton' deal with Silas after you made that huge mess at that crash site. You know it took our cleanup crews almost a month to deal with that radioactive fire you started?"_

Smokescreen went quiet so Fowler continued "_Like I was saying, we _think _whatever is putting off the signal is Cybertronian but we are officially referring to it as 'unidentified' because we don't know what's causing it. I am alerting you bots because whatever it is appears to be on the move and heading towards your neck of the woods,"_

Optimus nodded "Thank you for alerting us, Agent Fowler, I assure you we will look into this matter and let you know of any findings we come across,"

"_Understood, Prime, Fowler out,"_ the call was disconnected.

Optimus looked over at Ratchet, who was at the monitor working the controls "_**Ratchet…"**_

Ratchet looked up at the taller mech "_**Already detected the anomaly just when Agent Fowler called. I am currently trying to pinpoint its location but like Agent Fowler said it is on the move,"**_

Bulkhead groaned. "_**It's not another decoy locator beacon, is it?"**_

Ratchet shook his helm "_**If it were the humans' scanners wouldn't be able to pick it up. Whatever it is seems to be giving off a specific frequency, if I could narrow down what type it is I should be able to guess…"**_ Ratchet's digits flew across the console pressing keys and buttons until he found a match.

"_**Ah hah! Found something… Strange, it appears to be a Cybertronian life signal,"**_

Arcee narrowed her optics at the blip on the screen that was gradually moving closer to Jasper. "_**Autobot or Decepticon?"**_

"_**Hard to tell, the signal is mostly scrambled so we know the general area they are in but not who they are or their exact location, like they want someone to find them but they don't want to make it too easy. Whoever they are, they're pretty clever,"**_

Over the next few hours Ratchet worked at the main computer trying to find out more about the strange signal while Prime worked at his terminal trying to decode the next coordinates. Two of the ones that remained were obviously for the Skyboom Shield and the Requiem Blaster and were harder to decode than the rest and therefore were taking longer to crack.

At three o'clock Arcee Bumblebee and Bulkhead went to pick up the kids from school. Like always they left early enough so they could be in the parking lot before school let out so it looked like Arcee was there all day and so Bumblebee and Bulkhead could get a spot close enough to the entrance so their charges could see them before all the parents whose kids couldn't drive yet took them all.

Raph was the first one of the three out saw so Bumblebee flashed his lights at him in greeting as he made his way down the front steps, only to have someone elbow him from behind and send him sprawling down the last two steps and landed on his side, dropping his back pack on the ground.

He slowly got to his feet, rubbing the side of his face where he hit it on the ground. When he looked up he found himself surrounded by three of the school's bullies, Vince being one of them.

The one that elbowed him, a freshman named Scott, sneered down at him "Watch where you're going, four-eyes,"

Over in the parking lot, Bumblebee had activated his holoform and was walking over to help his friend since the other students were either standing at the top of the stairs or going back inside to find another way around.

Raf started to look up at the bully but quickly looked away "Sorry,"

The bullies all laughed at him "Ah, now the little midget is sorry,"

Scott grabbed him by the shoulders and jerked him hard so he was looking up at his sneering face "I think I'm going to need a better apology than that,"

He pushed Raf towards Vince and the other guy so they could hold Raf still but Bumblebee reached in and pulled him to his side. "Is there a problem here?"

The teens looked up at Bumblebee, who stood at around six feet tall in his holoform which was built similarly to his actual body, and suddenly looked nervous. "Uh, n-no, no sir,"

"Yeah we were just kidding around, you know, having fun with the little kid,"

Bumblebee looked at them like he wanted to believe them but wasn't buying it. "I see, so if you were having fun _with _him, how come you three were the only ones that seemed to be having any fun?"

Knowing that Bumblebee was really protective of him—especially since the close call with the dark energon—Raf tried to get his guardian to leave with him before a fight broke out. "Come on, Benji, let's go,"

'Bee looked down at Raf when he used the human alias they had come up with for when they were around strangers and smiled "Ok, got all your stuff?"

Raf picked up his back pack and put it on "Yep,"

"Okay, car's over there," Bumblebee pointed to his alt. mode and watched Raf walk over to it before turning back to the three and spoke with his usual friendly demeanor. "Ok, I'll let this slide this time but only because I have to give my cousin a ride home, if this happens again I _will _report you to the school and due to the anti-bullying policy your parents will be notified. Have a nice day!"

Bumblebee turned on his heel and went back to his alt. mode and got in the driver's side while Raf was buckling himself in in the backseat since he couldn't legally ride up front yet.

Once the doors were closed and they were hidden from the outside world by the tinted windows of his alt. mode, Bumblebee deactivated his holoform and drove away. **(_So how was school today?)**_

Raf shrugged, rubbing his cheek again. "It was okay,"

Bumblebee realized Raf hurt himself when he fell. **(_Are you alright?_)**

Raf nodded "Yeah, I'm fine 'Bee. I probably should ice this later just to be safe, though,"

Back at the school, Jack was trying to get through the crowd of students that decided to just stand in the door way while the scene at the bottom of the stairs played out.

Somehow, by some twist of fate, Sierra ended up in the crowd next to him. "Hey, Jack,"

Jack looked at her "Oh, hi Sierra, what way to start the weekend, right?" he gestured to the mob in front of him then realized what he just said '_Weekend… scrap, the dance is tomorrow. Maybe she'll forget…'_

"So, are you still going to the dance tomorrow?"

'_Scrap, scrap,_ _SCRAP!' _ "Oh, right the dance. Is that tomorrow already?" Jack smiled a nervous smile.

Sierra nodded "Yeah, so are you going?" she gave him that look that always made his head feel funny.

'_Oh God, why does she have to make _that _look?' _

Jack rubbed the back of his neck and adjusted his back pack on his shoulder nervously. "Uh… like I said I'm not a great dancer… but if want to hang out I can try to make it,"

Sierra smiled at him as the crowd finally dispersed "Okay, see you there," she waved over her shoulder as she jogged down the steps to catch up to her friend.

Jack waved back "Okay, see ya later," once she was gone he walked down the steps and went over to Arcee and climbed on behind her holoform since she used it to drive to school to pick him up. Thankfully, Jack had the day off at work so he could go to the base right after school with Miko and Raf.

When they got back to the base, Miko noticed her fellow humans were less than thrilled when they disembarked from their guardians' alt. modes to let them transform. "Hey, why is everyone so bummed out?"

Jack and Raf sighed and responded in depressed unison "The usual,"

Thinking fast, Miko ran to the humans' area "How about we play a few games, that always helps get rid of the school day drag," she went to get the controllers only to find one of them already out. "Huh, must have left this one out last night,"

She went to get the second controller out of the box next to the game console while Raf used the one that was left out to set up the racing game they always played. "Hey someone's played this recently," Raf scrolled through the game history. "Who's 'Da Bomb'?"

Jack and Miko looked at the screen, they all had their own racing profiles saved on the game but they used their actual names, now there was a new file under some gamer nickname that hadn't been there when they left the night before.

"Okay, the game history says that game was played after we left so it had to be a 'Bot," Jack looked at the player's high score in the corner. "Whoever they are they got a higher score in one hour than Miko does in two,"

Miko looked at the screen and bristled "WHAT? ALRIGHT, WHICH ONE OF YOU IS 'DA BOMB'? I _DEMAND _A REMATCH!"

They looked over when they heard someone chuckling and saw Smokescreen's holoform come around the side of the couch. "Ok, Ok, don't hurt yourself. I'll play,"

They all stared at him as he leaned against the couch's arm rest and asked for a controller.

"Sure, you can use this one," Raf handed him the one he was holding. "I didn't know you liked video games, Smokescreen,"

Smokescreen shrugged and got his little virtual race car into the player two spot since Miko had already claimed player one. "Had to find something to do until I had to pick up June after you guys left and you always look like you're having so much fun when you play this so I figured I'd see what the big deal was. Took me a while to figure out how the controls worked, though,"

Miko picked up her controller and got into her "In the zone" position. "Yeah, well, you're going down now, Smokes,"

Smokescreen smirked and looked at her out the corner of his eye. "Oh yeah? How about we make this a little more interesting?"

Miko looked at him with a matching smirk "What did you have in mind?"

"Well, I was thinking a bet but I'm not sure _what _we should bet. I don't use human currency and you don't use energon so that wouldn't work,"

Jack leaned back in his chair and folded his hands behind his head. "Well, you guys can't bet money and I highly doubt either of you could do the other's chores so I guess that leaves public humiliation,"

Arcee grinned "Great idea, Jack. How about loser has to announce one embarrassing fact about themselves to the whole team?"

Smokescreen and Miko looked at each other. "Sound fair to you?"

"Yeah, but I _really _hope I don't lose,"

Bumblebee activated his holoform and jogged up the stairs "I call playing winner!"

"Okay, winner plays against Bumblebee, loser has to admit one embarrassing fact about themselves. Whenever you guys are ready,"

As soon as Jack stopped talking the first race started; Miko was in the lead at first but when they got to the homestretch Smokescreen pulled ahead and used a trick he learned by playing the game online, fishtailing towards her to kick up a cloud of dust to throw her off course and rocketing past her to the finish.

Miko groaned in defeat while Smokescreen threw up his arms and cheered "Whoo! Alright Miko, what was it you wanted to say?"

Miko was staring at the TV like a ghost had just crawled out of the screen "H-how did you do that?"

"A trick I learned, I'll show you later but Bumblebee plays next and I don't want him learning the same trick just yet. Now spill!"

They all leaned in to hear what Miko had to say. She looked around at everyone and sighed "Alright, I'm deathly scared of spiders. Happy?"

"Alright, Bumblebee, your turn,"

Miko handed her controller to Bumblebee so he could sit on the couch and play while she went to sit next to Bulkhead and sulk. "Can we have the same bet you and Miko did?"

"Sure, why not,"

The two mechs in holoform played against each other, this time 'Bee won.

Smokescreen stared at the screen "You have got to be kidding me,"

Bumblebee didn't say anything, he just turned to Smokescreen with a smile on his face.

Smokescreen gave him a double-take. "Seriously?"

Arcee projected her holoform to lean against Jack's chair and gestured with her hand. "Well, Smokescreen, now that you just got schooled anything you care to share with the class?"

Smokescreen sighed and grumbled through grit teeth but no one could hear him.

"I'm sorry, could you speak up, we can't hear you,"

Smokescreen spoke slightly louder "The first day at the Academy I got separated from the group I was in and spent the next joor wandering around lost and somehow ended up in the middle of the shooting range where Ironhide and Chromia were having a contest to see who was the better shooter. I don't even think they were shooting at the actual targets anymore after I got out there,"

Arcee laughed at him "Well, it didn't exactly help that you were hiding _behind _the targets they were shooting at,"

Smokescreen looked at her "How would you know that?"

Arcee grinned "Chromia's my older sister, she sent a recording of the whole incident to me and our younger sister, Flare-up,"

Raf piped up from where he sat next to Bumblebee. "Um, no offense, Arcee, But your sister sounds mean,"

"Now we know where you get it from,"

Arcee glared at Miko for her off-handed comment "What's that supposed to mean?"

Sensing an oncoming chick-fight and being the only ones willing to do so, Smokescreen and Bumblebee stepped between Arcee and Miko.

"Uh, Arcee, how about you have a turn?" Bumblebee guided Arcee's holoform to sit on the couch next to him and Raf.

"Arcee, here's your controller," Smokescreen pressed the one in his hands into Arcee's before picking Miko up as if _she _weighed about as much as the handheld controller and handing her to Bulkhead. "Bulkhead, here's your human, keep her someplace safe," he added the last part in a hushed voice with the underlying meaning "Keep her away from Arcee!"

Arcee held the video game controller awkwardly in her holoform's hands. "What am I supposed to do with this thing?"

Jack went over to help his guardian "Well, for one thing you're holding it wrong," he adjusted her grip on the controls and explained what the buttons did.

Bumblebee looked over at Arcee. "Hey 'Cee, want to use the same bet Smokescreen and Miko did?"

Arcee looked over at him suspiciously "You're only saying that because you know you're going to win,"

Bumblebee smiled and nodded "Yep,"

"Well, at least he's honest. Sure why not, not like I have anything to lose,"

Once they all showed Arcee how to use the controller and set up her own point tracker Bumblebee set up the next game and the two raced each other.

As predicted, Bumblebee was in the lead for most of the race while Jack and Raf both cheered for their guardians and Smokescreen, Bulkhead and Miko both cheered for whoever they wanted to win.

Just when they were nearing the homestretch, Smokescreen switched back into his robot mode so he could lean over the railing and whisper in Arcee's holoform's ear. "Hold down the 'A' button while pushing the 'X' button twice. When you let go of the A button hit the 'B' button on the side of the controller,"

For some weird reason she couldn't explain, Arcee trusted him in that moment enough to follow his directions, which resulted in her little virtual race car rocketing ahead to catch up to Bumblebee's little virtual race car, kicking up a cloud of virtual dust like Smokescreen did. He still beat her but not by much.

Miko recognized the maneuver and pointed accusingly. "Hey, no fair, she had help!"

Bulkhead silenced her by touching the tip of his digit to her mouth, completely covering her face. "Yeah, but she still lost. So… got anything you want to tell us Arcee?"

Arcee huffed and told her story. "When the war first broke out I was placed in a unit that was in charge of scouting out areas that had taken heavy hits for survivors. When Poly Hex fell I got separated from the rest of the unit and got lost. Tailgate realized I was gone and called me to find out where I was and tell me where they were,"

She rolled her optics "Unfortunately, the rest of the unit was still on the move so the rendezvous coordinates kept changing. I literally ran and drove all over what was left of Poly Hex before I found them again,"

Miko pulled Bulkhead's digit down and gasped for air before saying "That's it? Come on, Arcee, don't you have anything juicier than that?"

Arcee put down the game controller and put her hands on her hips. "Oh, you want something more 'juicy'?"

Miko pretended to hit herself on the side of the head "Duh!"

Arcee stood up and pointed to the elevator Agent Fowler uses when he stops by with a smirk on her face. "How about we continue this discussion on the roof, I don't think the guys want to hear this,"

Miko scooted to the edge of Bulkhead's palm so he could lower her to the ground while Arcee jumped over the railing and dropped down to land astride her alt. mode Western-film style before deactivating her holoform and transforming to walk over to the 'Bots lift up to the roof.

Bulkhead was hesitant to let his charge go with Arcee after the two nearly got into a fight a few minutes before. If they could get at each other's throats right in front of him… he didn't want to imagine what could happen if they went up on the _roof _alone.

Miko smiled up at him once she was on the ground and put her jacket on so she wouldn't get cold up on the roof. "Be right back, Bulk," she ran up the steps to get to the door of the elevator and didn't slow down until she was inside and pressing the button.

Once the two females were in their respective lifts to the roof, the guys looked at each other. The silence was broken by Bulkhead "So… who wants to go next?"

Bumblebee tipped his head back to look at the ex-Wrecker and held up his controller "Miko and Arcee just went up to the roof for 'girl talk' so how about you and Jack?"

Bulkhead thought about it for a moment before shrugging "Sure, why not?" he transformed and activated his holoform to walk up the steps while Jack and Bumblebee switched spots so he and Bulkhead could both sit on the couch to play.

Smokescreen smirked at them "You guys going to keep the bet going or would you rather break the pattern?"

Bulkhead sighed "Why bother? Jack would probably win anyway,"

Jack leaned back and held the controller in his lap. "Hey, who knows, you might get some beginner's luck,"

"Well, I'll think of something anyway, just on case,"

Due to Bulkhead's lack of experience and the fact his fingers kept fumbling with the buttons he spun out and crashed on the first turn, leaving Jack the victor.

Bulkhead dropped the controller on the coffee table in front of him and crossed him arms with a scowl. "Yeah, I got 'beginner's luck' alright, all of it was bad!"

Jack leaned forward and set his controller down. "Don't feel bad, you'll get it eventually. So did you think of anything?"

Bulkhead scrubbed his face with his hand to try to alleviate, and hide, the slight blush creeping up on his holoform's face. "One time, when I was first starting out as Miko's guardian, she didn't know I could see what goes on in my back seat so she climbed back there to change her shirt after we went dune bashing and she worked up a sweat from the adrenaline rush. I didn't want to see her without her shirt on so I turned off my sensors back there and told her the windows back there weren't tinted and everyone could see her so she would stop. She did but I forgot to turn my sensors back on so I couldn't tell what was in the back seat for a while,"

The guys all stared at him for a moment before Jack and Smokescreen burst out laughing.

"Oh Primus, that must have been _awkward!" _Smokescreen fell on the floor with a crash he was laughing so hard while Jack fought to get his laughter back under control.

"So is that why you didn't know she left her guitar in the back seat and stowed away inside you when you went after the Decepticons?"

Bulkhead looked at them bemusedly "Yeah, Now stop laughing, it wasn't that funny. And please, please, _please _don't tell Miko about that. As far as she knows my sensors were malfunctioning and didn't get fixed until _after _that happened. She'll never trust me again if she knew I lied to her and then told you guys about that," his look changed to a pleading one.

They all nodded. "Your secret is safe with us, Bulkhead,"

Bulkhed gave a sigh of relief "Thanks guys. Hey, Raf, You're the only one here that hasn't played yet. You want a turn?"

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_Meanwhile, on the roof of the base_

Arcee and Miko sat on the top of the silo with their legs hanging off the edge, looking out over the desert. They were high enough that anyone driving by wouldn't be able to see Arcee in her bipedal mode unless they happened to be looking up there with a pair of binoculars so they were safe for the time being.

Miko looked up at Arcee "So what was it you wanted to talk about?"

Arcee snorted and looked down at her "Something that happened back when I was what humans would consider a teenager that I didn't want the guys to know about," she looked back out and gazed across the desert.

"Back when the war was actually just a gang war and not the full scale civil war it later turned out to be my sisters and I went to this local hangout for a femmes' night out. While Chromia was dancing with Ironhide who met us there some jerk who was seriously overcharged…"

She saw Miko's confusion and corrected herself "…drunk, came up to where I was sitting with Flare up and started hitting on me. He even tried to grope me a few times but he wouldn't leave no matter what either of us said or did to him so, in an act of desperation, Flare up and I pretended to be _lovers _to get him to take a hint that neither of us were interested," she chuckled at the memory and Miko looked up at her with a smile.

"I take back what I said; your sisters sound awesome,"

Arcee smiled down at her and got up "Come on, we had better get back to the guys before Bulkhead starts thinking you went over the edge,"

They went inside and rode the lifts back down into the base.

* * *

_**AN: And another fluff-tastic chapter for all of you. I swear, things will get more to the point before long here. My thanks to the people that reviewed and/or added: LadyBonBon, horselover95, onecoolchris, Kaleiea (Guest), Dragon of Diamonds, YoI 1337, Kamen Rider Sting, Darkpool, Foresthunter, The Darkening, LunarNightDreamer,**_


	8. Chapter 8

Where There Is Smoke

Chapter 8

Rated T for language.

Disclaimer: If you recognize it from TV or other media sources I don't own it.

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

"_Talking on the phone or recordings"_

:comm. link:

[Texting]

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Spark feelings_

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years.

* * *

Since it was the weekend, and the Autobots didn't want to leave their charges unprotected in the city in case the unknown Cybertronian turned out to be a threat, Jack, Miko and Raf were going to stay overnight at the base that Saturday.

On Saturday morning, when Smokecreen brought June to the base so they could both give Optimus their regular reports—they still had to do them, the Prime had just moved it back to every other week so they didn't have to do it often—June brought a couple of grocery bags with her and carried them to the old kitchenette that was left over by the human workers that used to occupy the silo.

"What's in the bags, June?" Smokescreen followed her to satisfy his curiosity before going to Prime to give his report.

June went into the room that used to be a break room for people that did security detail for the missile silo and called out so he could hear her out in the hallway while she put everything away.

"Fruit, Pop-tarts, yogurt and orange juice so the kids can have something for breakfast when they get up in the morning since they're staying overnight," she took out a white bucket with a red handle on it and shoved it to the back of the freezer. "I also got a surprise for them, and according to Ratchet you guys can eat and drink in your holoforms so you can have some too if you want,"

"What is it?" Smokescreen tried to peer inside the room to see what the writing on the side of the bucket said but she had already closed the freezer.

"Ah-ah-ah, it wouldn't be a surprise if I told you, now would it?" she waggled her finger at him before taking out a plastic bag of disposable bowls and silverware and putting them in a cupboard. "Besides, Optimus is waiting for your report anyway,"

"Oh, right," Smokescreen stood up from where he had crouched by the door and jogged back out to the main area where Optimus was working on decoding the next coordinates to give his report, which went rather quickly since there wasn't as much to it as the last one.

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That Saturday, Raf told his parents he was staying the night at the base and Jack told the same thing to his mom while Miko told her host parents that she was going to the dance and staying the night at a friend's house afterward since her host parents didn't know about the Autobots.

Little did anyone else know, that was exactly what the girl planned on doing.

Since the dance started at eight, Miko gathered Jack and Raf in the tunnel that leads out of the base so they could talk privately without the 'Bots overhearing at around six thirty after they had spent the day having a video game tournament, which they still hadn't finished because some of the 'Bots had patrol, and suggested they all go to the dance together and Jack told her no.

Miko stared at Jack in disbelief. "What? What do you mean you're not going? You already told Sierra you would,"

Jack opened his mouth to say something but Miko pressed her hands over his mouth.

"Oh, no, don't even start. When we first met the 'Bots you were all 'Normal suits me just fine' and 'If this is just another day with the Autobots, I'm out'…" she made her voice sound whiny when she was mocking Jack's attitude towards the Autobots when they first found out about the Cybertronians. "… And now that you have a chance to do normal stuff you're hiding behind them? Come on, High school is supposed to be the best years of our lives and you're going to end up spending them at the K.O. drive in,"

Jack pried her hands away from his face and snapped "If the time I spend in high school is supposed to be the _best _time of my life then chances are my life is going to suck anyway so why bother. Besides, Raf's too young to go unless someone signs him up ahead of time and we shouldn't just leave him out like that,"

Miko put her hands on her hips, looking proud of herself. "I know, that's why I signed him up after school today and paid all our entrance fees in advance,"

Jack face palmed "Miko, it costs seven dollars a person to get into the dance. How exactly did you get twenty one bucks to pay for all three of us?"

Miko looked sheepish and Jack groaned "When you say 'all' are you including the 'Bots too?"

Miko smiled "That would have been awesome, but I only had enough for the three of us. I was saving up for a Slash Monkey CD… and that money is nonrefundable so YOU GUYS HAD BETTER GO!" she pointed at each of them threateningly.

Jack stood steadfast; if he could hold his ground when his mom was threatening to ground him until he was old enough to shave when she tried to make him leave during the whole Unicron incident he could do so against Miko now.

Unfortunately, Miko had a trump card. She ran up to Arcee "Hey, Arcee, remember when Jack wanted to quit Team Prime because he wanted to be normal? Well, now he's saying he'd rather hide in the base instead of doing normal stuff like go to dances and stuff,"

Arcee quirked an optic ridge "Uh huh, and… what do you want me to do about it?"

Miko gestured towards her and then over to Jack. "Make him go, he listens to you about as much as he does his mom!"

Arcee looked over at Jack who was gesturing for Miko to stop talking "Not always,"

Jack smirked sheepishly and Arcee returned her attention towards Miko. "Besides, I'm not going to make him do something he doesn't want to just so you can run off and have fun. And that unknown signal is getting awful close to Jasper,"

Miko waved her off "Why would a Cybertronian go to a human school dance? It's not like we'll be in any danger or anything,"

Bulkhead came lumbering up "Ah, C'mon 'Cee, let the kids go have some fun,"

Arcee hissed at him "_**You're just saying that because you can't say 'no' to her,"**_

Bulkhead growled and was about to retaliate when Optimus stepped up "_**Arcee, I'm afraid Miko has a point, the human children have been spending so much time in the base recently at this rate they will have become soldiers before they reach adulthood,"**_

He switched over to English so the children could understand him "I see nothing wrong with the children attending this 'dance' as long as they are careful… and they have their parents' permission,"

Bumblebee and Smokescreen came back from patrol, they were the last ones to finish and wanted to know what was going on.

"Miko is trying to convince us to let her, Jack and Raf go to the school dance, right now it's down to whether or not they have permission from their folks," Arcee looked down at the children "Do you?"

Raf shrugged, not knowing what to say, and Jack's shoulders slumped in defeat as he pointed at Miko "Ask Miko, she's the evil mastermind behind this whole thing,"

All the bots looked at the girl who put on a forced smile and spoke with the same uncertain monotone she always used when she lies. "Of course I have permission from my host parents to go to the dance. Why would I not have permission from my host parents to go to the dance?"

The Autobots all frowned, even without the sensors in their audio receptors that could detect lies they would know she wasn't telling the truth but then they looked at Jack and Raf, surely the two of them could keep the girl from getting into too much trouble if they were allowed a few hours at the dance. It was a normal human social event, after all…

Bulkhead smiled "Alright, how about I give you guys a ride so Arcee and 'Bee are here if anything happens," the green mech transformed into his alt. mode and opened the doors for them.

Miko jumped right into the passenger seat while Bulkhead's holoform appeared in the driver's seat.

Raf slowly trudged over to the green truck and climbed into the back while Jack grabbed a piece of paper and quickly jotted something down on it before climbing in next to him. When he was done he held it up against the back window.

"Alright is everyone ready?" Bulkhead looked back to make sure both boys were inside and buckled up so they wouldn't get caught in his doors when he closed them. Once everyone was set he closed the doors and drove out of the base.

Arcee caught sight of the paper and leaned down to read the note as the truck drove away. Smokescreen did the same, wanting to know what she was looking at, and laughed when he saw what it said.

It read "Help us, we are being kidnapped!"

The others dispersed to resume what they had been doing before, except for Arcee who stood there staring at the exit wringing her servos like she wanted to drive after them. "_**I've got a bad feeling about this…"**_

Bumblebee put a servo on her shoulder _**(Don't worry, 'Cee, they'll be fine,)**_

Over by the computers, Ratchet was on the verge of a break through. "_**I've almost pinpointed our little visitor's exact location if I just…" **_an incoming comm. signal cut in and thwarted his attempts.

Shouting something incoherent out of frustration, Ratchet answered the hail but put the call on hold so he could keep trying to locate the signal he been tracking half the day, only to find it was gone. "_**Scrap, I lost it,"**_

He checked to see who had tried contacting him and growled; it was Wheeljack's comm. frequency. He reopened the line and growled "_**Wheeljack, you had better be going offline if you're calling me right now!"**_

Wheeljack's voice came on the comm. system. :Gee, thanks, Doc. I feel so loved.:

Ratchet rubbed his optics "_**Wheeljack I am in the middle of something very important so if you have something to say just say it. And if you call me 'Doc' one more time…"**_

Wheeljack chuckled on the other end of the line :I heard some rumors going around and wanted to see if they were true or not. Mind if I come over?:

Ratchet looked at the Prime, who nodded his approval, and sighed. _**"Alright, land your ship somewhere hidden and send the coordinates, I'll send you a ground bridge as soon as I get them,"**_

:Okay, see you then, Doc:

Ratchet grumbled about how he hated being called "Doc" while he prepared the ground bridge for its next jump. Once he gotten the coordinates about an hour later he entered them in and opened the portal. A few minutes later Wheeljack stepped through with one servo behind his back and the other wiping snow off of his frame.

Bulkhead ran over to his friend "_**Jackie!"**_

To his surprise Wheeljack put both servos behind him and took a step back with a sly grin on his faceplates "_**Hey, Bulkhead, guess what?"**_

Bulkhead stopped a few feet from him and looked at him, confused "_**What?"**_

Wheeljack's grin widened and he pulled a snowball from behind his back "_**It's snowing in the mountains!"**_ He threw the snowball at the other Wrecker and it hit him on the arm and splattered apart.

"_**Hey!" **_Bulkhead stooped down to gather up the remains of the snowball and throw it back at Wheeljack, who had just pulled a second one out and was poised to throw it at him as soon as his friend stood back up again.

Bumblebee came running up beeping wildy. **(_Hey, save some of that for Raf, he's always wanted to see snow.)**_

Bulkhead handed Bumblebee a chunk of snow off the snowball he was reconstructing. "_**Here, 'Bee, go put this in the freezer before it melts,"**_

The yellow scout whirled happily and took the snow and set it on the ground so he could transform and use his holoform so he could take the snow and put it in the freezer in the human kitchenette.

Wheeljack watched him go and jerked his thumb towards the holoform's retreating back "_**How long have you guys had holoforms?"**_

"_**A couple days,"**_

Wheeljack guffawed and looked over at Ratchet "_**Seriously, Ratch', you just got them done a couple days ago?"**_

Ratchet called over from where he was working in the med. bay "_**I've been very busy, Wheeljack,"**_

Wheeljack chuckled "_**Yeah, but you got all of these tools and equipment. I just got what I have in the **__Jackhammer __**and check this out…"**_

He transformed into vehicle mode and rolled down his driver side window, a tall man with dark hair that was graying at the sides and bright blue eyes climbed out and sat on the window ledge, making faces at Ratchet "_**Na na na na naaa! Whoa!" **_Wheeljack's holoform slid back into his alt. mode as it rolled backwards to avoid getting hit by the wrench that was thrown.

Wheeljack climbed out of his alt. mode and went over to pick up the wrench and held it like a surfboard. "_**Not cool, Ratchet,"**_

Ratchet knelt down and held his servo out for his wrench "_**Give me my wrench, Wheeljack, or you'll be getting the **__Jackhammer __**back one piece at a time,"**_

Wheeljack jogged over to Ratchet "_**Okay, okay, here's your wrench, sheesh!" **_he held up the wrench for Ratchet to take and his holoform disappeared while his real body transformed into robot mode.

Ratchet went to put his wrench away grumbling to himself while Wheeljack looked around for something, or rather someone "_**So, Bulk, where's the little Wrecker at? Haven't seen her in a while,"**_

Bulkhead gave up on the snowball—the snow was melting too fast for him to put together a good sized one—and threw it in the waste bin "_**She went with Jack and Raf to the dance at their school tonight, but they'll be back later,"**_ he smiled at Wheeljack "_**Boy, is she going to be surprised when they come back and you're here,"**_

Wheeljack smiled at Bulkhead but caught movement in his peripheral vision and turned to see Smokescreen. "_**Smokescreen, is that you?"**_

Smokescreen smiled and gave him a two fingered salute "_**Hey, Wheeljack,"**_

Wheeljack laughed and put Smokescreen in a head lock to give him a power noogie, and by power noogie he vibrated his servo as he ground it into his helm for added affect. "_**Where the Pit have ya been, kid?"**_

Smokescreen grabbed Wheeljack's arm servos to try to break free. "_**Ow, ow, ow, ow… Cut it out,"**_

Bulkhead looked at Wheeljack then Smokescreen and back again, confused. "_**You two know each other?"**_

Smokescreen looked at Bulkhead "_**Yeah, I've known Wheeljack since I was a Youngling. Not all the Wreckers battles were documented in the Hall of Records, How do you think I was able to follow **__all __**of them?"**_

Wheeljack let him go and slapped him on the back "_**Yeah, when I overheard over the Decepticon airwaves that there was a new 'Bot on Team Prime I didn't think **__you__** were the one they were the one they talking about," **_

Smokescreen shrugged "_**Surprise,"**_

Wheeljack looked over at Bulkhead "_**Still got that lob ball from last time?"**_

"_**Yeah, it's in the training room,"**_ The two went to get it, Bulkhead filling Wheeljack in on what he'd missed while he was gone.

After they came back with the lob ball, they started to throw it back and forth a few times before Bulkhead called Smokescreen over. "_**Hey, Smokescreen, want to lob with us?"**_

Smokescreen looked up from looking at the TV where Arcee and Bumblebee were watching something but he wasn't really watching the show. "_**Really?"**_

Wheeljack threw the ball at Bulkhead "_**Yeah, I need something to keep me awake with the way Bulkhead's throwing over here,"**_

"_**Oh yeah, how's this?" **_ Bulkhead heaved the ball so hard it made Wheeljack slide back several feet when he caught it. Bulkhead looked over at Smokescreen "_**Don't worry, Smokey, I promise I won't hit you with the ball this time,"**_

Smokescreen walked over to where they were changing positions so the three of them formed a triangle "_**Don't call me 'Smokey', the only people that ever called me that after I was out of my sparkling stage was my Sire and my little brother. And my Carrier when he was mad at me about something,"**_

Wheeljack passed the ball to Smokescreen who caught it and passed it to Bulkhead. After passing the ball around in the circle for a few minutes Smokescreen's comm. link went off, the ping frequency told him it was June calling him.

Deciding to multitask, he answered the call while trying to keep track of the ball and react accordingly. :Hey, June, what's up?:

:Hey, Smokescreen, I just tried calling Jack's phone but he's not answering. Are he and the kids having a good time at the sleepover?:

Smokescreen just passed the ball back to Bulkhead. :He's probably not answering because he's at the dance, I'll ask him when he, Raf and Miko get back.:

It was quiet at the other end of the line then :Huh, I thought he said he didn't want to go.:

Smokescreen froze. '_Oh, Primus…'_

_Bang!_

Everyone looked at Smokescreen as he got beaned by the ball. "_**OW, son of a… Wheeljack!"**_

Wheeljack stopped the ball from rolling towards either the med. bay or the computers after it had bounced off of Smokescreen while Bulkhead helped the Praxian up and June yelled at him through the comm. line :Smokescreen, what happened?:

Smokescreen rubbed his shoulder where the metal ball glanced off of him. :Nothing, just got distracted while lobbing with Bulkhead and Wheeljack. Um, can I call you back?:

:Yeah, sure. Oh, and Smokescreen?:

:Yeah?:

:If you see Jack before I do, tell him he is in big trouble.:

Smokescreen winced at the venom in his charge's voice. :Okay, I'll see you when I pick you up later.: He cut off the call and looked at the others who were staring at him.

Wheeljack passed the lob ball between his servos. "_**You okay, kid? I didn't mean to nail you like that,"**_

Smokescreen nodded and held out his servos for the ball. "_**Yeah, fine, just got distracted by a comm. from June,"**_

Wheeljack smirked and passed the ball to him. "_**June? Who's that, your **__secret admirer?__**"**_

Smokescreen caught it and glared at him "_**No,"**_

Arcee stepped up and cut in "_**June is Jack's Carrier, Smokescreen is her guardian. So what did '**_helicopter mom'_** want?"**_ Arcee used the phrase Miko used to describe how June was when she first found out about the Autobots.

Smokescreen rotated the ball in his servos as if making sure he didn't dent it when it hit him. "_**She was just calling to see if Jack and the kids were having a good time since Jack wasn't answering his phone,"**_

"_**He probably wasn't answering because he was at the dance,"**_

"_**That's what I thought, but here's the part that gets me," **_he tucked the ball under one arm-servo. "_**Why would she call one of**__ us __**if she **__knew __**he would be at the school dance and not at the base?"**_

They were all quiet for a minute, mulling his point over and thinking the situation through.

"_**We never actually asked Jack if he had permission,"**_

Bumblebee nodded **(And Raf isn't actually old enough to go to school dances unless one of the older kids invites him.)**

Bulkhead rubbed his optics, growling at his own stupidity. "_**Miko…" **_

Arcee started walking towards the exit "_**Come on, let's go get them… when I get my servos on that boy…" **_she growled to herself before transforming and peeling out of the base, activating her holoform as she went.

Smokescreen wasn't far behind her after he dropped the lob ball and transformed into vehicle mode on the fly and Bumblebee quickly buzzed where they were going to Ratchet and Optimus before rolling out himself.

Bulkhead as about to leave when Wheeljack asked him "_**Whoa, hey, where's everybot going?"**_

Bulkhead sighed and turned to his friend "_**We were going to let the kids stay the night here because we detected a Cybertronian signal nearby but we haven't got a fix on who it is yet so we want them at the base just to be safe. Miko convinced us all to let Jack and Raf go to the dance at their school with her and since we all thought the kids' parents thought that's where they were going to be we allowed it. But according to what Smokescreen just told us June had no idea where they were,"**_

Wheeljack chuckled dryly "_**Ah Primus, Bulk, sounds like she out-Turbofoxed you,"**_

"_**Yeah, now I got to go get her,"**_

"_**Mind if I come with?"**_

Bulkhead thought about it and shook his helm "_**Nah, you'd probably be bored. All we really have to do is walk in, find the kids, drag them out, and bring them back here. Four against three the kids don't stand a chance,"**_

Wheeljack held up his servos in surrender "_**Alright, go get your girl. I'm going to see what Ratchet's working on,"**_

Bulkhead slapped Wheeljack on the back "_**Don't push too many of his buttons, Jackie, Ratchet's wrench might not miss next time,"**_

Bulkhead transformed and drove out of the base, leaving Wheeljack to walk slowly towards Ratchet's work bench. Once he was gone the Wrecker muttered "_**Like I'm scared of my brother," **_He reached out and caught a smaller wrench that was thrown at his helm.

"_**You should be,"**_

Wheeljack chuckled and set the wrench down on the work bench. "_**So what are you working on this time, Ratch'?" **_

Ratchet spared him a glance before returning his attention to the computer screen he was working at "_**I'm trying to get a lock on that signal Bulkhead just mentioned to you. We know it's somewhere in or around Jasper but we don't know who it might be,"**_

Wheeljack eyed the blip on the screen like staring at it hard enough would make it identify itself. "_**Maybe I could go check it out,"**_

"_**No, if they are hostile I don't want you rushing out there on your own. If they are in distress they might think you are hostile and try to defend themselves,"**_

Wheeljack fingered his grenade like he was itching for a fight. "_**Any idea who it might be yet?"**_

Ratchet rubbed his chevron, trying to think. "_**Right now I have it narrowed down to a Decepticon that is either lost or trying to bait a trap, an Autobot that recently arrived on Earth looking for others, or a Neutral that came here to get away from the war not realizing the war is here just hidden,"**_

Wheeljack rolled his optics "_**Oh, yeah, that narrows it down to 'Anyone that isn't a Wrecker'. I could tell that already,"**_

"_**How?"**_

Wheeljack pointed up at the screen_** "They're using a scrambled hailing frequency, like they're saying 'I'm here, I mean no harm,'. If a Wrecker wanted to be found they would just blow up something big to let everyone know where they are,"**_

Ratchet tapped his chin groove "_**Who could possibly be able to scramble their frequencies like that?"**_

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_At the school_

Jack and Raf were sitting at a table in the corner, bored out of their minds but didn't want to leave without Miko, who was all over the gym like a toddler on a sugar rush and kept running up to the DJ to request a song by Slash Monkey only to be reassured by the man—who oddly didn't seem the slightest bit bothered by her pestering—that the songs she requested were on the list to go next as soon as the rest of the requests that came before hers had been played.

Jack was about to text the 'Bots when Sierra came sidling up to him. "Hey, Jack, glad you could make it,"

Jack looked up and saw his crush standing in front of him wearing a maroon dress that went down to her knees with a white belt and matching heels and quickly put his phone away. "Oh hey, Sierra. Um… yeah, here I am,"

She smiled at him and nodded towards the dance floor "Want to dance?"

Jack blushed sheepishly "Um… I told you before I don't usually dance…" he saw the look she was giving him "…but I guess this one time won't kill me. Just please don't laugh at me,"

"Don't worry, I won't,"

Jack set his jacket on his chair and looked at Raf. "Raf, I'll be right back. Don't talk to any strangers while I'm gone,"

Seeing the older boy was joking, Raf joked back "Who in Jasper could possibly be stranger than who we usually hang out with?"

Jack smiled at Raf before following Sierra out to the dance floor where the two danced. After a few minutes Sierra couldn't help but laugh to herself at the wild back pedaling move Jack was doing.

Jack pretended to be offended "Hey, you said you wouldn't laugh,"

Sierra managed to stop laughing long enough to say "I'm sorry, but I've never seen that move before except for the MC Hammer dance video from _Just Dance,"_

Halfway through the song, Miko came running up and grabbed Jack by the arm. "Uh, Jack, I think we better go,"

Jack glared at her, the only reason he came to the dance was because she wanted to go _so _damn badly and because he wanted to see Sierra, now that he was dancing with her the hyperactive exchange student wanted to leave?

But then he saw the look on Miko's face "Why, what's wrong Miko?"

Miko nodded towards the door "Look who just walked in,"

Jack looked and recognized the four people that just walked in and froze "Oh, scrap,"

Sierra frowned and looked over at the door, recognizing Sadie being flanked by three muscular guys and all four of them seemed to be looking for someone, and looked back at Jack "Let me guess, your folks don't know you're here and now your cousin's here to pick you up early?"

Jack hesitated and nodded.

Sierra took her phone out of where it had been hidden inside her belt. "Well, if you're going to take off again, how about we swap contact info so we can still talk?"

Jack had to stop and think to make sure he heard right before reaching into his pants pocket for his own phone. "Sure,"

The two quickly exchanged phone numbers before Miko dragged Jack to the far side of the dance floor and behind the tables on the other side of the room.

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_Meanwhile_

The four Autobot guardians pulled into the school parking lot and used their holoforms to go inside; Arcee, Bulkhead and Bumblebee were there to pick up their charges while Smokescreen was there in case they needed back up.

The mechs in the group were distracted by how everything was set up inside the large human establishment while Arcee marched in the direction she could hear the music playing.

"_**Whoa, what does this thing do?" **_Smokescreen fiddled with a water fountain and accidently sprayed water at Bumblebee who shook his fist and hissed a few Cybertronian curses none of the others thought Bumblebee even _knew _at him.

Arcee called over "_**Guys, focus! We're not here to screw around,"**_

When they got to the admissions table, the teacher that was in charge of it was organizing the money in a small metal cash box. She looked up at them skeptically "Can I help you?"

Arcee smiled at her "Hi, I'm Sadie Darby. Do you know if my cousin Jack Darby is in there? His mom asked us to pick him up along with a few friends of his,"

The woman sat up straighter, like she didn't believe her. "Really, it takes _four _of you to pick up a few kids?"

Arcee was about to lose her patience with the woman so Smokescreen stepped forward "_**I got this," **_he reached into his coat pocket and pulled out a billfold and opened it up to reveal a silver badge that looked similar to the Elite Guard insignia set inside a federal seal.

"Ma'am, a few children snuck out of protective custody tonight to attend this dance. We were sent to retrieve them," he closed the billfold and put it away, flashing the woman a charismatic smile. "All we need is a few minutes to go in and find them. Think you can allow that?"

The woman thought about it a moment before she nodded. "Alright, but make it quick,"

They all thanked her and walked past her to the gymnasium doors. Bumblebee tapped Smokescreen on the shoulder. "_**Where did you get the badge?"**_

Smokescreen whispered back "_**It's part of the holoform. We needed an alibi and the one I gave her was about as close to the truth as it could get but she probably needed proof so I formed the badge and wallet out of part of the holoform."**_

Bulkhead smirked "_**That's cool. How did you do it? I want a badge too,"**_

Arcee looked over her shoulder at him_** "Too bad, you don't get a badge. With the way you drive you're lucky we trust you with that driver's license Fowler was able to forge for you,"**_

"_**Damn,"**_

They found the gym and stood in the doorway, looking for the kids.

Arcee spotted Raf sitting at a table in the corner by himself. "There's Raf,"

Bumblebee looked over at his friend "I see him," he sent Raf a text.

Raf was just sitting quietly listening to the music, too shy to go talk to anyone else, when he got a text. He checked and saw it was from Bumblebee. [Hey, having fun?]

Raf texted back [Kind of, don't really know anyone else though.]

Bumblebee texted back [I can see that.]

Raf reread the text, confused. He looked around to try to figure out how his guardian could see him and saw all four of them standing in the doorway, none of them looking too happy.

Realizing they had been caught, Raf resigned himself to his fate and walked over to them, bringing his jacket with him.

He came to a stop in front of the four holoforms and looked at the floor while Bumblebee checked him over to see if his charge managed to hurt himself in the time the scout wasn't with him, Arcee immediately started scanning the crowd looking for Jack, Bulkhead spared Raf a glance before looking around for Miko and Smokescreen smiled down at him reassuringly before becoming serious again and looking around to see if he could spot either teen in the throng of other teens.

Raf slowly looked up at them and waved shakily "H-hey guys, what are you doing here?"

Bumblebee's shoulder's slumped "June called and thought you were still at the base with us so we came back to get you, Jack and Miko. Where are they?"

Raf pointed towards the dance floor. "Jack was dancing with Sierra until Miko grabbed him around the time you guys came in and Miko's been all over the place the entire night,"

Arcee went over to where Raf had been sitting and grabbed Miko and Jack's coats and gave them to Bumblebee. "Bee, stay here and watch Raf while we go find Miko and Jack,"

"Okay," Bumblebee gently took Raf by the arm and lead him out into the hallway so the boy wouldn't be embarrassed by all the people staring at him while the other three 'Bots went to find the other two children.

Arcee spotted Jack and Miko on the other side of the room and tried to cut across the dance floor but she had trouble getting through the crowd.

Bulkhead had even more trouble than she did because of his size. "Let's just go around,"

"No, this way is faster," then Smokescreen remembered a trick he saw on a movie. "Let's try dancing our way across. We'll blend into the crowd better and we won't get run into as much,"

Arcee turned to glare at him "That's the dumbest thing I ever…" then she saw he was already nearing the middle of the dance floor bobbing and weaving to the beat of the music along with everyone else.

"Yeah, but look who is way over here while you're way back there,"

On the other side of the room, Miko grabbed Jack and ducked down out of sight just as Arcee got distracted by a certain jock sidling up to her.

Vince looked her holoform up and down lustfully "Hey, hot stuff, want to dance with the hottest guy in the room?"

Arcee looked at him like she didn't know whether to laugh or slap him, because that was exactly what was going through her mind. "Why, is he a friend of yours?"

Vince frowned, he heard that voice before but he wasn't sure where. "Haven't I seen you somewhere before?"

Arcee smirked snidely "Yeah, that's why I don't go there anymore,"

Vince frowned "You know what, I don't really like your tone,"

Arcee ignored him and started to walk away.

Vince was furious that anyone would just walk away from him like that. "Hey, I'm talking to you, bi-" he pulled his arm back to take a swing at her but was stopped by someone seizing his arm in a vice grip and turned to see Smokescreen's holoform clutching the teen's arm like a raptor latching onto its prey.

"Hey let go," Vince struggled but stopped when Smokescreen's six-foot-one holoform narrowed his eyes to glare holes into the shorter jock's ego until he shrank back.

Leaning close, Smokescreen hissed "Don't you _ever_ touch her, and if I find out you ever pick on Jack, Miko or Raf again you will answer to me. Understood?"

Vince tried to give himself a confidence boost by saying "You and what army?" but then he saw a set of army tags around Smokescreen's neck and saw he _was _in the army. A quick look at Arcee revealed her jacket had a patch sewn onto the sleeve that marked her as a lieutenant.

Seeing this was one fight where he couldn't boast his way out of, Vince nodded nervously so Smokescreen let him go and smiled like they had been having a friendly conversation. "Enjoy the rest of your night, and remember…" he got serious again. "…It's a small town, so if you try anything on my friends I _will _find out about it,"

Vince scowled and disappeared into the crowd.

Arcee stared at Smokescreen, who was looking around for Jack and Miko again. "Smokescreen, you do realize you just went 'one-man-mafia' on Vince, right?"

"Yeah, I know… it felt good," Smokescreen smiled and spotted Jack peering out from under a table cloth before letting it fall back into place.

Arcee started to walk away. "Well, we'd better find those two and get ou- Smokescreen, what are you doing?"

Smokescreen had suddenly grabbed her and twirled her around and pulled her closer so he could whisper "Jack and Miko just hid under that table over there," He spun her out so she could start heading towards the table but she grabbed his hand and pulled him back, grabbing him by the shoulder like they were going to dance together.

"Which table?" she hissed.

Smokescreen smirked and gently placed his other hand on her waist. "Follow me,"

The two started to spin around to the beat of the music, which to Smokescreen's secret amusement was "DJ got us falling in love again" by Usher and Pitbull, gradually making their way over to the tables.

For a brief moment, Arcee allowed herself to relax. '_This is… kind of… nice,'_

It never occurred to her that the same thing was going through Smokescreen's processors but once they made it to the table in question he gently dipped her to the side and used the hand holding hers to lift up the table cloth.

Under the table, Jack and Miko were hunkered down in their hiding spot, the former was digging his fingers into the side of his head in mild panic. "Oh man, we are so dead…"

Miko waved him off "Oh come on, they probably didn't even see us,"

Suddenly, the tablecloth was lifted up to reveal Arcee's holoform leaning down to glare at them. "Jackson Darby, you are in _so_ much trouble right now!"

Jack's eyes widened when he saw his guardian "Whoa-ah!" he crawled out the side of the table and ran behind the tables to try to get to the exit.

Smokescreen helped Arcee back into a standing position. The femme snorted "I don't know why he's running away when I'm his ride home,"

While she stalked after her charge, Smokescreen reached under the table and pulled Miko out, the girl protesting. "Ah come on, how did you find us?"

Smokescreen put a hand on her back to lead her around the dance floor to meet Bulkhead halfway. "June called asking how you all were doing at the 'sleepover' you guys were having at the base. Since we didn't know anything about this 'sleepover' thing we thought you guys would know so we came to find you, which really wasn't that hard with you two peeking under the table cloth every few seconds,"

Miko pouted until they came to Bulkhead, who was looking at her with disappointment.

Miko gave him a small smile and waved sheepishly "Uh, hey Bulk,"

He looked at her like a parent that caught their kid doing something they shouldn't be doing. "You and I are going to have a long talk about this, young lady,"

Miko bit her lip and followed her guardian out of the gym.

Smokescreen looked around for Arcee or Jack "Well, two down and one to go,"

While Smokescreen was looking around the gym to see where his remaining two friends were—Jack had disappeared into the crowd and Arcee was stalking around like a predator trying to thin out a herd of prey animals to try to get a specific one.—he happened to look up at the DJ's table. Across the front of the table was a banner displaying the DJ's stage name "Master Blaster"

'_Why does that sound so familiar?' _he looked more carefully at the man's face, he was African-American with his hair dyed a shade of orange-red that matched his shirt that seemed to have a tape deck pattern on the front with a white and orange baseball cap that was turned backwards. He didn't recall seeing the man before but his build, facial structure and bright blue eyes seemed to ring a few bells.

Then the DJ spoke "A'ight, Jaspuh high, Master Blaster is now taking requests so don' be shy, step right up and if there's somethin' ya want played Ah'll be happy to put it down for ya,"

That's when it hit Smokescreen. '_Holy scrap, I DO know him…'_ he made his way up to the table and leaned against it.

The DJ pulled his headphones down so they hung around his neck and smiled at him "Hey, man, got a request?"

Smokescreen smiled back "Actually, you look kind of familiar, have we met before?"

The man looked at him curiously, like trying to recognize him "Ah dunno, Ah play at a lotta events, where do ya think we would've met,"

Deciding to throw all caution to the wind Smokescreen ventured "I'm just going out on a limb here but I was thinking perhaps…" he lowered his voice and said "_**Cybertron,"**_

The DJ eyes widened and narrowed suspiciously before the supposedly human man spoke in Cybertronian "_**Who are you?"**_

Smokescreen smiled '_Gotcha,' _"_**Blaster, It's me Smokescreen,"**_

"_**Smokescreen?" **_Blaster stared at him before recognizing a few similarities between the young man before him and the young mech he met vorns ago. Blaster laughed and grabbed Smokescreen's arm to pull him into a "bro-hug" "_**Where the Pit have ya been, mech? Ah haven't seen ya in a long time. How long have ya been on Earth?"**_

Smokescreen returned the gesture and pulled away "_**It's a long story, but I've been on Earth for quite a while now, working with Team Prime,"**_

Blaster leaned against his turn table "_**So Prahm's still on Earth. Ah heard rumors goin' around an' followed 'em here but Ah haven't actually found him yet,"**_

Smokescreen nodded "_**I'll let him know you're looking for him, But I can't tell you where the base is yet for security reasons,"**_

Blaster nodded. "_**A'ight, Meet meh back here after the dance, Ah can't leave 'til it's over anyway. So, anythin' ya want meh to play as long as yo' up here?"**_

"_**Actually, a couple of my teammates and I are here trying to find some human friends of ours, they snuck out after they told their folks they were staying with us. We already caught most of them but one of them is still unaccounted for, got any good chasing music?"**_

Blaster chuckled and scrolled through the datapad full of music he had disguised as an iPad that held all of his song choices "_**Roundin' up some runaways, huh? Say no mo', I got just the thang fo' ya,"**_

He made the song selection and was about to get on the microphone to announce it. "_**What's the kid's designation? Maybe Ah've seen him,"**_

"_**Jack Darby, he is about yay tall with dark hair and blue eyes, he is currently being chased by his Autobot guardian. She has been masquerading as his cousin in the military,"**_

"_**A'ight" **_He leaned down to talk into the microphone "A'ight, everybody, this next song goes out to Jack Darby who is currently on the run from his cousin and a few o' her friends from the military, Start runnin' Jack," he pressed play and the "Benny Hill" theme started to play.

After hearing Jack's name, the crowd parted leaving the teen out in the open. Jack looked around and saw he was exposed and Arcee had a clear shot of him. "Oh scrap!" he turned and ran as fast as he could with Arcee chasing after him and the song making it seem all the more comical to everyone watching.

Smokescreen laughed "_**Oh man, that is awesome, thanks Blaster,"**_

Blaster waved at him while he pulled his headphones back on with his other hand. "_**No prob, mech, see ya later,"**_

Smokescreen waved back as he walked away "_**See ya later, I'll ask Prime if you can have clearance to the base when we get back,"**_ he turned and went over to help Arcee try to catch Jack.

Out on the dance floor, Jack had finally managed to get to the gym door and ran down the hall. But for some reason the music seemed to follow him out there, it was somehow playing over the intercom system out in the hallway!

He kept running until he came to where the hallway split off and went in two different directions and went left, knowing Arcee couldn't take both paths and hadn't seen which one he had taken he was going to circle back around and meet them outside so he didn't have to deal with the humiliation of getting chewed out by his "cousin" in front of his classmates.

Unfortunately he didn't know that a while back Ratchet had looked up the schematics of the school so they could devise a contingency plan to get the kids if the school was ever attacked, so Arcee knew the layout of the hallways and that the one Jack just ran down circled around to come back to where they started.

Smokescreen had caught up to Arcee who sent him down the hallway going to the right "_**You go that way, I'll go this way. One of us is bound to catch him," **_The two split up and ran in separate directions.

Jack kept running until he caught a glimpse of Arcee's holoform coming around the corner. "Jack!" he was about to turn around and turn himself in but Smokescreen came around the corner and tackled him, catching the teen in his arms before he hit the ground.

Arcee came around the corner and looked at him with the same look she gives him whenever she saves him from the 'Cons "Jack, why did you run away from us like that?"

Jack tried to stand up and face her as best he could with Smokescreen's holoform keeping a firm grip on him in case he tried to bolt again. "It's kind of the first thing that usually comes to mind when someone is chasing me,"

Arcee took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "Let's just go, your mom was going to meet us at the base,"

Smokescreen let Jack go and walked a few steps behind the two until they were outside in the parking lot where Bumblebee handed Miko and Jack their coats and the children got into or on their guardians' alt. modes to leave. "You guys go ahead, I'm actually supposed to be picking up June right about now. I'll meet you back at the base,"

Everyone drove off; Smokescreen going one way, everyone else going another.

* * *

_**AN: Thank you all for reading this and those who added and reviewed; Sideswipe08, YajirashiZ, PrincessLeahPrime, nikesilvermoon, Kaleia (Guest), kronos274, Hyourinmaru96, NoXVZhuusox**_

_**Reviews, comments, predictions and suggestions are welcome. Any flames will be… you know what, never mind, I don't care if I get flames as long as you guys are honest about your opinions.**_

_**Until next time**_

_**Hugs and Mugs,**_

_**Lady Quickshift**_


	9. Chapter 9

Where There is Smoke

Chapter 9

Rated T for language.

Disclaimer: If you recognize it from TV or other media sources I don't own it.

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

"_Talking on the phone or recordings"_

:comm. link:

[Texting]

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Spark feelings_

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years.

* * *

Halfway back to the base, Bulkhead's holoform frowned sadly at Miko. "Miko, if you wanted to come to the dance all you had to do was say so. I'm sure your host parents would have been ok with it and I would have made sure you got there and back to the base safely. You didn't have to lie about it,"

Miko looked down at the floor boards and back up at him through the corners of her eyes. "I'm sorry Bulk, but if I told my host parents the truth and said I was going to the dance _and _staying over at a friend's house they would have wanted to know whose house I was staying at. I just told them I was going to the dance and would be back tomorrow so they would have left it at that and I didn't think you would have let me go if they didn't know so I…"

Miko stopped to fight back tears. '_Kuso__(1.)__, Miko, you're a Wrecker for scrap sake, Wreckers don't cry!'_

Bulkhead looked over when she suddenly got quiet and saw the moisture collecting around her eyes. While he pulling to the side of the road, he reached over and pulled his girl into a hug.

Miko saw he wasn't holding onto the wheel anymore and crew concerned "Uh, Bulk, don't you need to have your hands on the wheel to drive?"

"Nope," he parked himself on the shoulder while his holoform held Miko. "Miko, do you really think I've had to ask your host parents' permission for anything? And if I did don't you think they would be a little freaked out over the messes we get into or the stuff I let you get away with?"

Miko shrugged "I guess so,"

Bulkhead smiled down at her "From now on, no lying, alright?"

Miko smiled and hugged him back "Okay," They pulled apart and sat back in their seats "Now let's get back to the base before the others wonder where we are,"

Bulkhead drove back out onto the road and resumed driving "While we're on the subject of you lying, has anyone told you that you actually suck at it,"

Miko put her hands on her hips and looked at him "I do not!"

Bulkhead chuckled "Yes, you do. Even Bumblebee knew you were lying when you said your host family knew where you were going to be tonight but we let it slide since we figured at least Jack and Raf's parents knew,"

Miko rubbed her arm nervously "Are you going to tell them?"

Bulkhead thought a moment "Well, since I haven't actually met your host parents yet I can't really tell on you this time. Same goes for June so unless she or one of the others tells Raf's family I think this is going to stay between the team,"

Miko sighed "Okay, no more lying,"

"That's my girl, now let's get back to base, I'll bet your itching to see Wheeljack again,"

Miko perked up "Wheeljack's back? Why didn't you say so Bulk? Metal to the pedal!"

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Raf sat in the passenger seat of Bumblebee's alt. mode, neither of them saying a word until they saw Bulkhead pull over. Raf looked out the window to try to see what was going on "What do you think they're doing?"

Bumblebee's holoform stared straight ahead, focusing on the road. "Bulkhead is probably pulling over so he can talk to Miko about what happened tonight so he can get a word in before Ratchet, Arcee and possibly June or Prime can get after her when we get back to the base,"

Raf looked at his guardian's holoform through the corner of his eyes "Are you mad, 'Bee?"

Bumblebee sighed, he was going to give his charge the silent treatment but he couldn't keep quiet when his best friend and the only one that ever really understood him was trying to talk to him.

He looked over at the boy "No, Raf, I'm not mad. I'm just a little on edge right now. I mean, do you have any idea what was going through our processors when June called us thinking you were all at the base and we all thought she and your mom knew you were at the dance? If something had happened to you guys and we weren't there to help… Why would you lie to us?"

Raf looked up at him "We didn't, Jack and I really were going to stay at the base but Miko talked you guys into letting us go and we didn't want her to go alone so…"

Bumblebee nodded in understanding "Okay, I get it. What I don't get is why you guys would pay to go party with people you don't even like when you can do that at the base with us for free,"

Raf sunk down into his seat "Yeah, I don't think I'm going to be sneaking out again anytime soon,"

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Jack sat on the back of Arcee's alt. mode with his arms around her holoform's waist while his guardian drove. He noticed she was gripping her handlebars hard enough for her knuckle bones to poke out of her gloves and the same angry anxiety that she had when he and Smokescreen went for the Star Saber rolled off of her in waves.

"Um… Arcee?" No response, so he tried again. "Arcee I…"

"You promised," her tone was flat, cutting him off.

He stared at her, not understanding "What?"

Arcee turned onto the road that would lead them to the base. "You promised you wouldn't do anything reckless again. Do you have _any _idea whatsoever what went through my mind when your mother called us thinking you were with us after we just dropped you off at the school to leave you there until the middle of the night? If something happened and I wasn't there to protect you…"

Arcee's voice choked up as her engine stuttered, causing her to swerve a bit to regain control again and continue driving "Jack I… I don't want to lose you. Or anyone else for that matter,"

Jack tightened his arms around her for a hug "Arcee, it's okay. It was just a dance; the worst thing that could have happened was if I did something to seriously embarrass myself in front of the whole school. And for what it's worth, I didn't lie to my mom. I really didn't plan on going to the dance,"

Arcee stopped at a stop sign and turned to look at him over her holoform's shoulder. "What do you mean?"

Jack put his foot down behind hers to help hold the motorcycle up "When I told mom I was going to stay overnight at the base I was totally for staying at the base and hanging out with you and the guys. Miko was the one that wanted to go and talked me and Raf into going with her,"

"Just like the time you guys snuck onto the _Nemesis. _Well, I think we can add 'sneaking out for a night on the town' to the "Not part of the activities list" list,"

They took off again, Arcee finally starting to calm down and Jack was relieved at least one person that had the authority to ground him wasn't that mad at him anymore. "So how mad do you think Mom is going to be?"

Arcee thought about it "Well, I don't think it will be as bad as the last time. Since what you did tonight was something normal human teenagers do sometimes I think she'll be somewhat prepared for it,"

Just then Jack got a text from Smokescreen. He fished his phone out of his pocket and read it [Heads up, Jack: I just picked up ur mom & she looks PISSED!]

Jack closed his phone and groaned "Ah, man,"

"What is it?"

Jack opened the phone and read the text out loud for Arcee. "At least Smokescreen is learning some new human phrases," They drove faster to try to get to the base before Nurse Darby did.

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Smokescreen pulled up to the hospital and was going to find a parking spot and wait but he saw June walking out the main door so he pulled up and opened the passenger door to let her in.

"Uh, hey, June,"

June sat down in the passenger seat with a frown on her face "Smokescreen," she shut the door a little harder than she should have, causing Smokescreen to wince. Then she remembered the car she just got into was able to feel pain and turned to the holoform in the driver's seat. "Sorry,"

Smokescreen pulled out and drove away. "Don't worry about it, you've got a lot on your mind right now,"

June sat back in her seat "Could you stop by the house on the way, please? I need to get something,"

Smokescreen turned off on the road that would take them towards the Darby's house. "Sure, are you staying overnight at the base too?"

June shrugged "Eh, why not. At least this way I don't have to wait until tomorrow to talk to Jack about what happened tonight,"

Smokescreen spoke up in his friends' defense, while sending Jack a quick text to give him a heads up, just to be safe. "Uh, about that, June. From the sounds of things Jack and Raf didn't really plan on going to the dance at first, They just didn't want Miko to go alone and since she was all ready to go we just assumed they had planned it like this from the start,"

June sighed, she couldn't really blame the 'Bots or the children for this; they were just trying to be normal kids and the 'Bots didn't know any better. "Well, you know what they say about assuming, it makes an 'ass' out of 'U' and 'me',"

Smokescreen couldn't help but laugh a bit despite the situation "That's good, I'll have to remember that one,"

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When the rest of the team got back to the base, the children solemnly climbed out of or off of their guardians' alt. modes.

The quiet didn't last long for Miko when she spotted Wheeljack and ran over to him excitedly. "Hey, Wheeljack!"

The Wrecker smiled down at her. "Hey, Miko, heard you had a little trouble tonight,"

Miko twined her fingers together and smiled sheepishly. "I didn't think it was _that _big of a deal,"

Arcee put her servos on her hips. "Uh, Miko, remember that unknown signal we've been tracking since yesterday? It was _right there _in Jasper. For all we know it could have attacked the school and we wouldn't be able to do scrap about it!'

Smokescreen pulled up right then and rolled down the window to add "Actually, they were at the school, but they didn't attack it,"

June climbed out his passenger side with a bag on her shoulder and a sleeping bag under her arm and went over to where the children were standing after she set the two items by the kids' overnight bags. "You three have a lot of explaining to do,"

The other Autobots gathered around Smokescreen while he transformed, Optimus Prime spoke first. "Care to elaborate on your statement, Smokescreen?"

Smokescreen nodded "While we were at the dance I noticed the DJ looked familiar so I went up to him like I was going to request a song and mumbled _**Cybertron **_under my breath to test him. Turns out he was just a holoform,"

Optimus looked at him "Smokescreen, while that was a noble attempt had this unknown mech been a Decepticon that alone would have both compromised our location and jeopardized the human population of Jasper,"

"Optimus, with all due respect like I said this guy was familiar, I knew him back on Cybertron. There's no way he would have sided with the 'Cons,"

Arcee frowned and crossed her arm-servos. "People can change,"

"You certainly haven't," Smokescreen mumbled under his vents.

Optimus looked at each of his Autobots. "I believe this merits investigation. Ratchet, you and Wheeljack stay here with June and the children. Autobots, roll out!"

They transformed and followed Optimus out of the base.

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Blaster didn't seem too surprised when Smokescreen came back after the dance, until he saw he had someone with him this time; a tall muscular man that was about six-foot-six with dark hair and blue eyes wearing a red jacket over a grey button-up shirt, blue jeans and combat boots.

He stood by his equipment to line up the next few songs to play automatically as they crossed the gymnasium to his table and smiled at them in greeting when they reached him "_**Hey, Smokescreen, who's yo' friend?" **_he was just asking for appearance sake, of course. Blaster knew _exactly _who it was.

The man recognized him as well by his voice and similarities between his holoform and true form. "_**Blaster, it is I, Optimus Prime,"**_

Blaster nodded "_**Ah kinda figured that, suh"**_

Optimus looked around at the crowd and turned back to Blaster "_**How soon will you be able to leave?"**_

Blaster pointed at the teenagers out on the floor either sitting at the tables or still dancing. "_**Still got half an hour befo' I can leave the gym, but after that it'll only take a breem to load up all this into the rest o' meh. The main part o' mah body is parked outside,"**_ he gestured to his equipment and they realized all his DJ equipment was part of his body.

Optimus nodded "_**Understood, meet us at the culvert at the edge of town as soon as you are able. We will be waiting there,"**_

"_**Understood, Prahm. See ya mechs then,"**_ they walked away and Blaster put his headphones back on.

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Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead waited in the culvert Prime told Blaster to meet them in, which coincidently enough was the same culvert Jack and Raf first saw the 'Bots all those months ago.

Arcee paced the length of the culvert in her holoform, recalling that moment down to each individual blow that was dealt. "_**Can you believe this is where it all started?" **_

'Bee went over to where there were cracks in the concrete where he had landed on one of the Vehicons "_**This was where Jack and Raf met us for the first time. They saw us fight the 'Cons and ran through that pipe over there right before Bulkhead showed up,"**_

Bulkhead leaned against his alt. mode in holoform "_**So that's why I don't remember seeing them,"**_

Bumblebee's holoform went over to the pipe and peered inside _**"I wonder where this goes,"**_

Bulkhead went over to him "_**Let's go find out. We have a while before Prime and the kid get back with the new guy,"**_

Bulkhead crawled inside the tunnel with Bumblebee close behind him. Arcee ran over to the opening and called after them "_**Guys, we can't just… Ah, what the Pit. Wait for me!"**_ she stooped down and trotted after them, activating her night vision as she went.

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A few minutes later Optimus and Smokescreen pulled into the culvert. After scanning around to make sure no one would see him Smokescreen transformed and crept over to where the others' alt. modes were parked "_**Hey, guys, we're back. You can transform now,"**_

No response so he tried again "_**Guys?" **_he reached out and touched Bumblebee's hood and felt the engine rumbling softly as if he were in recharge.

Optimus transformed and crouched down by the edge of the culvert so no one driving on the road above would see him. "_**They must be using their holoforms,"**_

Smokescreen looked up at the Prime "_**But where are they?"**_

Just then Arcee's holoform came out of the tunnel "_**What took you guys so long?"**_

Bumblebee leaned out of the tunnel "_**Uh, guys… Bulkhead got stuck when we turned around to come back. Any ideas on how to get him out?"**_

Smokescreen crawled over to the tunnel opening and peered inside "_**Maybe if we find some rope or cable or something we can hook him up to one of our vehicle modes and pull him out,"**_

Bulkhead somehow heard him because his voice echoed down the tunnel "_**NO! ARE YOU CRAZY?!"**_

Arcee cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled down the tube "_**Bulkhead, just turn off your holoform,"**_

The three of them said something along the lines of "_**Oh, why didn't we think of that,"**_ all the holoforms disappeared as their owners transformed into robot mode.

Arcee rolled her optics and went to lean against the wall of the culvert "_**Mechs, always the hard way,"**_

After waiting another half an hour for the dance to get done, the bots all saw a vehicle driving into the culvert. It was a reddish orange _Pontiac_ _Vibe _with yellow and white trim on the side.

Bulkhead saw the vehicle and laughed "_That's __**the new Autobot? Sure don't look like he'd be much in a fight,"**_

Optimus looked over at Bulkhead as they all stood to meet the newcomer. "_**Appearances can be deceiving, Bulkhead,"**_

The red-orange car came to a stop a few feet away from them and transformed slowly, the transformation seams were stiff from being in alt. mode for so long, into a tall mech that bore a striking resemblance to Soundwave only he was obviously a ground mech with red-orange coloring with white and yellow accents and instead of a blank face visor he had bright blue optics set in cheerful-looking faceplates.

When he was finished transforming, Blaster vaulted to his peds by doing a break-dancing move and saluted Prime "_**Communications Officer Blaster, Reportin' fo' duty, Prahm,"**_

Optimus nodded "_**At ease soldier. Good to have you back,"**_

Blaster relaxed his stance and smiled up at Optimus "_**Good to be back,"**_

Bulkhead looked at Blaster, then Smokescreen, and back again. "_**So how do you two know each other?"**_

Smokescreen gestured with his servo towards Blaster. "_**Blaster used to help out at the Youngling center I used to go to when I was still a Youngling back on Cybertron**_,"

Arcee looked at Blaster and recognized him "_**Hey, I used to go to that same Center. Blaster was the one that helped patch my arm servo when it got broken after some dumbaft fell off the play set and landed on me,**_"

Smokescreen looked down at the ground. "_**Um, yeah I know… I was there too. You just called me a dumbaft…"**_

"_**Thanks for reminding me…"**_ Arcee lunged at him with a snarl. Naturally, Smokescreen ran and Arcee chased after him until they both transformed and sped back to the base.

Blaster looked up at Prime with a smile "_**Nice ta know some things never change, eh?"**_

Optimus looked down at him and nodded "_**Follow us back to the base, Blaster, you will be thoroughly debriefed there. Autobots, return to base!"**_

They all transformed drove back to the base with Prime in the lead followed by Bumblebee, Blaster and Bulkhead bringing up the rear.

By the time they got back, Arcee was chasing Smokescreen around the main area while Ratchet chased them both to try to keep them from causing any damage and Wheeljack kept trying to grab one of them, only to miss Arcee and Ratchet crashed into him.

After a few minutes of everyone else trying to get them to stop, Blaster reached out and grabbed Arcee and Smokescreen by the scruff bars as they ran past "A'ight, tha's it. Ya two ah gonna act like kids Ah'm gonna treat ya like kids,"

He dragged them both to the far corner of the room and sat them down so that they were facing the wall and clasped their servos together. "Since ya two still seem to have trouble gettin' along ya will sit here an' hold servos fo' two breems. If either of ya moves or makes a sound Ah'll make ya sit here longer,"

He turned on his heel and went back to the others while Arcee glared at the wall and Smokescreen hung his helm in shame, occasionally looking at Arcee through his peripheral vision.

Just then Miko came back in the room, having gotten ready for bed before the guys, and saw Blaster. Immediately she ran up the steps to the humans' area and to the edge of the platform where she would be closest to him for a better look and excitedly bombarded him with questions. "Wow, are you the new 'Bot? What's your name? How long have you been on Earth? Did anyone ever tell you that you look just like Soundwave? What do you do?..."

Blaster chuckled and held up a servo "Whoa, whoa, slow down lil lady. Don't want ya to hurt yo'self. The name's Blaster. Ah've been on Earth fo' a couple years now. Yeah, Ah have been told that Ah look like Soundwave lots of times, but that's because we're bro's,"

Miko tilted her head to the side "Your brother's a 'Con? That must suck,"

Ratchet shook his digit at Miko in a scolding manner. "Miko, stop bothering him. Speaking of bothering others, you need to be taught a lesson for your behavior this evening. No TV or video games tonight,"

Wheeljack snapped his digits and said with fake disappointment. "Oh darn, and here I finally managed to get an old Cybertronian movie file downloaded onto a DVD so we can all watch it together,"

Wheeljack looked at Ratchet through the corner of his optics to see if he was taking the bait. Ratchet eyed him suspiciously. "_**Which one?"**_

Wheeljack smiled and pulled a compact disc case out of a tiny subspace pocket he used to store data discs back when he was an engineer before he became a Wrecker. "'You, me and the Rust Sea' the one we used to watch all the time before the war,"

Ratchet weighed his options; hold fast to his decision to punish the children for the stunt they pulled or give in to nostalgia. He sighed "Fine, but after that the TV is getting shut off,"

Miko pumped her fist "Awesome, we get to see a Cybertronian movie, this is gonna rock!"

Optimus turned to Blaster. "Being as you already have an Earth-based alt. mode, Blaster, we have no need of finding one for you at this point. However, we will still need to contact Agent Fowler. He is our liason to the humans and will need to know of your presence,"

Blaster nodded. "Sho' thang, Prahm. Want meh to make sure no one else catches the call?"

Prime nodded and gestured to the communications hub. "By all means,"

Ratchet crossed his servos and looked down at Miko. "Speaking of calls, I have half the mind to contact your parents and tell them what you have been up to, young lady,"

Miko rolled her eyes "Don't see how much good that would do, my host parents don't care what I do as long as I come back to them in one piece,"

"I wasn't talking about your host parents,"

Miko's blood ran cold "You wouldn't…"

Ratchet crossed his arm-servos "Try me,"

"Do you guys even speak Japanese?"

Blaster laughed like she just told a funny joke "Miko-chan, Ah happen to be a Communications Officer, it's mah job to learn an' be able to understan' _every _language spoken on each planet we land ga nihongo o rikai(2.),"

Smokescreen called over from where he sat in the corner "Watashi mo(3.)! With all the time I've spent on the internet since I got here I was able to download three different languages so far; English, Spanish and Japanese,"

"Smokescreen, No talkin' in time-out," Blaster turned back to Miko after he made sure the mech was going to be quiet. "But he does have a point, any o' us could tell ya folks what ya been up to and since Ah can scramble our comm. frequencies so they don' show up on caller I.D. our secret would be safe so there really isn't anythin' stopping us from telling on ya if we really wanted to,"

Miko crossed her arms and pouted, grumbling "Can't go to Cybertron… can't even go to the school dance… you guys are no fun,"

Bulkhead knelt next to her and nudged her with his servo so she was looking at him. "Miko, we can still have fun, just like we always do, we just don't want you or anyone else to get hurt. The reason we were on edge tonight was because we didn't know if the signal that was right here in Jasper was friendly or not. We got lucky this time because it was another 'Bot but if it were a 'Con and you three were at that dance while we were at the base we wouldn't be able to get to you fast enough. You understand what I'm saying?"

Miko rubbed her arm and shifted her weight "Yeah, I guess,"

Bulkhead smiled and held out his fist for her to pound, which she did. "That's my girl, now go get ready for recharge,"

Miko groaned "Ah, but I wanted to see the movie Wheeljack brought,"

Bulkhead nudged her in the direction of the human's area where her bag was waiting "I know, I said _get ready _for recharge, I didn't say you had to recharge just yet,"

Miko smiled up at him and pointed out that she was wearing a different outfit than before. "Actually, I'm already in my PJ's. Mrs. D was lecturing us while we all got ready. Jack and Raf are just taking _forever_,"

Raf came trotting in, now in his own night clothes. "Yeah, because we let you get dressed first because we couldn't exactly share the bathroom,"

Arcee called over "Can we get up now?"

Blaster waved his servo "Yeah, ya can get up now,"

Arcee and Smokescreen jumped to their peds and walked away. "Finally,"

Wheeljack knelt down and handed Miko the box, balancing it on his digit like a contact lens. "Why don't you guys go set up the movie. I'll be up as soon as I activate my holoform,"

Miko took the small box excitedly. "You got a holoform too? Can't wait to see it,"

Wheeljack smiled as he watched the kids run up the stairs followed by the other 'Bots holoforms before he transformed into his alt. mode with an impish grin on his faceplate.

Miko opened the box and grinned, "Sweet, it's a box set,"

Ratchet scoffed "Miko the movie is a joor long. That's six Earth hours. Human compact discs don't have the storage capacity to hold the whole movie in just one. And no we are not going to be able to get through the whole thing tonight so don't even ask,"

"Okay, okay, maybe Wheeljack will let us finish it some other time," Miko slid the first disc into the drive and looked around at everyone who came up the steps. "Hey, where is Wheeljack?"

Just as she said this, Wheeljack's holoform popped out of the couch, sending the cushions flying everywhere. "RAWR!"

The others all jumped, Ratchet and Bumblebee screamed, Bulkhead was a little more used to his friend's craziness so he just jumped and then laughed, Smokescreen pulled Arcee behind him protectively completely out of instinct—only to get his holoform's arm slapped when he accidently touched Arcee's holoform's chest—Raf hid behind 'Bee and Miko screamed and kicked Wheeljack's holoform in the chest.

Wheeljack rubbed the spot Miko's foot made contact. "Whoa, easy there, little Wrecker, It's just me,"

"Oops, sorry,"

Jack and June came in and saw the aftermath of Wheeljack's little stunt. "So, what did we miss?"

Miko looked over the railing at them "Wheeljack brought a movie for us to watch and then scared the crap out of everybody while we were setting it up,"

June climbed up the stairs and grabbed a cushion that had flown off the couch and looked at Wheeljack's holoform. "Let me guess, you're Wheeljack?"

Wheeljack smirked "Who wants to know?" he looked up at her "I'm guessing you're June?"

June smiled at him "Yes, as a matter of fact I am," _WHAP!_ June hit him across the head with the couch cushion.

"OW, hey!" Wheeljack rubbed the back of his head while June put her hands on her hips.

"That's for nearly getting yourself and Miko killed with that little revenge stunt a while back,"

Wheeljack climbed out of the couch and went to get the other cushion while June put the one she had back of the couch. "_**Primus, Ratch' you weren't kidding. She really is just as bad as Moonracer and Elita put together,"**_

Ratchet's holoform crossed his arms "_**Wheeljack, when I told you about June earlier I said she was **__like __**Moonracer and Elita put together. I never said my Bondmate or our sister were bad,"**_

Wheeljack sat down on the floor with his legs crossed Indian style next to Bulkhead and Miko. "How about we start the movie already?"

Everyone found a place to sit; Bulkhead and Wheeljack were sitting on the floor at the end of the couch with Miko sitting between the two holoforms, Ratchet and Bumblebee were sitting on the couch with Raf in between them, Jack was sitting on the floor next to the chair so June could sit in it, Arcee sat on the other side of the chair and Smokescreen leaned against the railing.

Ratchet looked over at Smokescreen through the corner of his eye (Smokescreen find a place to sit and sit down.)

Smokescreen sent back (Why? I'm fine right here.)

Ratchet sent back in a stern "tone" (I don't want you to fall over the edge. You always fall into recharge by the time this movie is over.)

Smokescreen sent back in a huffy "tone". (Yeah, when I was a sparkling, maybe.)

Wheeljack cut in with amusement (Yeah, that was just adorablehow you were still wide awake when there was only a few kliks left of the movie but as soon as the end credits showed up, _wham,_ you were passed out in recharge.)

Ratchet sent a mental stab through the brother-Bond (Wheeljack, no eavesdropping through the Bond!)

Wheeljack rolled his eyes from where he was sitting. (Yes, _mother._)

Raf picked up the remote and pressed play, the beginning credits came up on the screen in Cybertronian glyphs.

Jack leaned forward to try to make sense of them. "Is the whole movie in Cybertronian?"

Wheeljack nodded "Yeah, but I added subtitles so you humans can understand what's going on. They're at the bottom of the screen,"

"Oh, now I see them,"

While they watched the movie, Optimus and Blaster contacted Agent Fowler.

Blaster went over to the communications console and cracked his mechanical knuckles. "A'ight, time to go to work," he typed on the keys while two hacking cables much like Soundwave's, only his were red-orange, snaked out of his body and plugged into the sides of the console.

"A'ight, you're good to go live, Prahm. What's the guy's contact info?"

Optimus told him Agent Fowler's number and the CO called his office. They were answered by Agent Fowler talking to them through video chat. "_Prime, do you have any idea what time it is here?" _the man rubbed his face tiredly.

Optimus nodded "I apologize for the late hour, Agent Fowler, but I am contacting you in regards of the energy signature you asked us to investigate yesterday. It was in fact a Cybertronian life signal,"

The man on the screen looked at him, all business now. "_Autobot or Decepticon?"_

Optimus Prime stood so Fowler could see Blaster in the background. "Agent Fowler, the signal your scanners detected belonged to an Autobot known as Blaster, he was our Communications Officer before the Exodus…" he noticed Fowler was looking at Blaster strangely. "… and he's making that face again, isn't he?"

Optimus remembered how Blaster would sometimes make faces at recipients of communiqués where both parties were visible to each other and slowly looked over at Blaster to try to catch him in the act but only succeeded in seeing the mech quickly turn back to the console when he realized he had been found out.

When Prime turned back to the screen Fowler pointed something out. "_He looks a lot like that 'Con, Soundwave,"_

Blaster looked over at him with a smile "Yeah, Ah know, Ah get that a lot,"

Fowler processed this new info and nodded "_Good to know it was one of ours. I'll expect a full report in the morning so I can pass this on to the Pentagon,"_ He looked around as if to make sure no one was watching_ "But before I go, NEEHH…" _Fowler made a face at Blaster. "…_Yourself, Autobot. Fowler, out" _Fowler disconnected the call and the screen went back to normal.

Blaster chuckled as he disconnected from the console. "_**He don' seem so bad,"**_

Optimus walked away to go to his terminal '_If only he knew…"_

Blaster went over to where the others were "How's the movie?"

Miko waved her hand at him "Shh, we just got to the part where Quakebreaker and Shank got put in the same cell after they got in a huge fight in the prison yard,"

Blaster got a closer look at the movie. "Oh, you're watchin' 'You, Me and the Rust Sea'. Mind if Ah join ya?"

"Go ahead, find a spot,"

Ratchet shushed them. "Shh, trying to hear,"

Blaster transformed into his alt. mode, activated his holoform and free-ran his way up to the platform where he found an empty space on the floor by Ratchet's feet.

Jack saw Optimus was once again at his terminal, alone, and went over to him. "Hey, Optimus, Why don't you come watch the movie with us?"

Optimus spared him a look that lasted a moment, but Jack didn't miss the sadness he was trying to hide in his optics. "Thank you, Jack, But I still have work to do,"

Jack looked up at him and remembered what Arcee and Ratchet told them. Primes don't get to act like other Cybertronians, they hide what they feel from everyone around them to give everyone else someone to look up to when times are tough. "Optimus, I'm not asking a Prime to be amongst his soldiers, I am asking you to come spend time with your fellow Cybertronians and human friends."

Optimus looked down at him for a moment and a small smile crept up on his face plate "Alright, but only for one hour,"

Jack smiled up at him "That's all I ask,"

The two went over to the human's area where Jack climbed back up the steps while Prime parked his alt. mode next to the others and projected his holoform to lean against the railing by the staircase.

The movie turned out to be an adventure-comedy about two mechs named Quakebreaker and Shank that were both sent to prison for crimes they didn't commit and need to break out of prison to find the actual culprit but in order to do that they must work together; problem is they _hate _each other.

The movie suddenly stopped just as they got out of the prison and were about to head into the Rust Sea to evade their captors.

Miko jumped up when the screen suddenly went dark "What? What happened next?"

Wheeljack pulled her back down so she wouldn't jump on him or Bulkhead. "Sorry, Miko, that's it for this disc. The rest of the movie is on the rest of them,"

The Asian girl groaned. "Ah, can we watch the next one?"

Ratchet went over to put the disc away. "Miko, remember the deal? We let you watch one part and the TV gets shut off. Besides, it's late and you children should be in recharge," he fiddled with the DVD player. "Now how in the Pit does this thing even work?"

Raf went over to show him how to open the disc drive and put the disc back in the box. "Ratchet's right, we should get some sleep,"

"Okay," June started to unroll her sleeping bag on the floor while the kids grabbed the blankets they brought with and set to finding an open space on the couch or chair but Arcee scooped up Jack in her servo before he could lie down "Oh no, little mister. You're staying with me tonight so I can keep a sensor on you," Jack looked up at her like she lost her mind but she picked up his sleeping bag in her digits and handed it to him "Bring your sleeping bag, you can camp out on the end table or something,"

She set him down so he could follow her down the hall to her quarters and the other guardians figured that wasn't a bad idea.

"Come on, Miko, you too. You're the one that's most likely to sneak out anyway,"

Miko wadded up her sleeping bag and threw it over her shoulder so she could run down the steps with it. "Yay, roomies!"

Bulkhead turned to Wheeljack "_**Come on, Jackie, you can crash with us tonight,"**_

"_**Okay," **_he followed his fellow Wrecker and honorary Wrecker down the hall to the green mech's room.

June looked over at Blaster. "What about him?"

Ratchet looked over at the newest edition to their team and realized they didn't have any living arrangements set up for him. "Well, we have an extra berth in one of the extra rooms we've been using for storage, we can clean it out in the morning for him but in the meantime the only space available would be one of the berths in the med. bay,"

Blaster waved them off "That's okay, Ah'm used ta rechargin' in mah alt. mode so out here is fine fo' now," to prove his point he went over to the corner of the room and folded down into his vehicle mode and activated his locks with a flash of his lights and a _whoop-whoop _of his alarm. "'Night y'all!"

Ratchet shook his helm "We're still going to have to clean out that room tomorrow,"

Smokescreen spoke up "How about we let Blaster have the quarters I'm in now and I can clean out the spare room?"

Arcee came back in to get Jack's bag in case he needed it in the middle of the night "What's wrong with the quarters your in now?"

Something about Arcee's usual sarcasm made Smokescreen snap before he even realized it bothered him "Primus, femme, make up your mind. Do you want me in the room across from yours or don't you?" he regretted what he said as soon as it slipped out of his vocalizer but Arcee turned on her heel and stomped back into the hallway before he could say so.

"_**Arcee, wait," **_he caught up to her in the hallway. "_**I'm sorry, I didn't mean to say it like that. I know I've been screwing up a lot but what's it going to take to make it up to you?"**_

Arcee turned and looked at him with a sharp look in her optics "_**Don't. Don't keep trying to get on everyone else's good side and stop trying to be some kind of hero. You'll just get yourself killed out there," **_She went into her quarters and slammed the door.

Wings dropping as he slouched like a kicked puppy, Smokescreen trudged back to the main area.

June was coming back down the steps when he got back. "Hey, how did it go with Arcee?"

Smokescreen shrugged with a smirk, trying to brush it off as no big deal "Oh, the usual,"

June nodded and looked up at him once she stood next to his peds "You know, I still have that surprise for everyone in the freezer. After the 'surprise' from earlier I was going to make the kids wait until tomorrow but if you and the other Autobots want some now I think we can sneak some in the kitchen,"

Smokescreen thought about it "Alright, I'll go ask if any of the others want some," he went to the other bots' quarters and quietly knocked on the door while June asked Optimus, who was just about to log off his terminal to turn in for the night, and Blaster.

Smokescreen knocked on Bumblebee's door and waited until the yellow mech opened the door to whisper. "_**Go back to your berths and activate your holoforms, June's got something for us in the human's kitchenette," **_

Bumblebee nodded as the door closed and a few moments later his holoform appeared out in the hallway while Smokescreen knocked on Bulkhead's door and gave the green mech the same message, the door closed and both his and Wheeljack's holoforms appeared in the hallway a few minutes later; Bulkhead obviously passed the word on to Wheeljack.

Smokescreen knocked on Ratchet's door and immediately jumped back when the door flew open and the medic appeared in the doorway snapping around like a bear in a trap. "_**WHAT IS GOING ON OUT HERE?"**_

Smokescreen held up his servos in surrender and told him what he told the others, Ratchet calmed down slightly and walked down the hall grumbling about parking his alt. mode in the main area so he would have to project his holoform quiet so far.

Smokescreen was about to knock on Arcee's door but hesitated. 'Bee looked up at him "What's wrong, Smokescreen?"

Smokescreen pulled back the servo that was poised to knock and rubbed his chevron "_**Arcee's mad at me,"**_

"_Again__**?"**_

Bulkhead looked up at Ratchet "_**Again? I didn't know she **__stopped,"_

Smokescreen glared at them both and gathered up his courage to knock. After a few minutes, the door opened a crack and a blue optic with a pink iris peeked out. Seeing who was at the door, the owner of said optic started to close the door but Smokescreen reached out and stopped it. "_**Arcee, wait. June has something for us in the humans kitchen area. She asked me to come ask you guys if you wanted to come down there in holoform for it,"**_

Arcee hesitated and pulled the door shut the rest of the way after gently prying Smokescreen's digits off of it.

They all thought she was turning down the offer and started to leave but her holoform appeared in front of them "_**What exactly does June have in the kitchenette she wants to show us?"**_

Bumblebee perked up "_**Is this about that bucket of ice cream that was shoved at the back of the freezer? I saw it when I was putting that snow in there for Raf,"**_

Smokescreen thought about it as they all made their way down the hall "_**You know, it was something she was putting in the freezer this morning but I didn't see what it was,"**_

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When all of the Autobot holoforms were gathered in the little kitchenette with June the woman was scooping servings of some sort of frozen brown, pink and white substance into bowls for each of them and sticking a spoon in each bowl. "Who wants ice cream?"

Bumblebee cheered "I KNEW IT! I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream,"

Arcee rubbed her temple and leaned against the counter so she was out of the way while the boys reached for their own bowls and Ratchet and Optimus leaned against the wall. "'Bee, if you say that one more time I really am going to scream," she grabbed her bowl once there was enough room for her to do so and waved her spoon at the scout. "Seriously, the guy was chanting that the whole way here,"

Ratchet looked at the bowls skeptically. "Just what is 'ice cream' anyway?"

Blaster leaned against wall to eat his. "It's kinda like the Freeze-E-treats back on Cybertron,"

Bulkhead took a bite of the chocolate part of the Neopolitan ice cream he was eating and chewed it slowly "The brown stuff kind of like rust sticks,"

"That would be chocolate flavored ice cream, Bulkhead,"

Arcee looked at the bit of ice cream she had just gathered into her spoon, which happened to be the same savor Bulkhead was referring to "Wait, so in other words chocolate ice cream is a Freeze-E-treat that tastes like a rust stick?"

She shoved the dollop into her mouth to taste for herself and her eyes slowly closed as she purred with pleasure. "Mmm, best of both worlds,"

They all found a place to sit or stand while they ate. Optimus turned to June "Thank you for sharing this with us, Nurse Darby,"

The other Autobots also thanked her for the ice cream and she smiled at them "You're all welcome,"

Everyone ate their ice cream, talking like old friends as they ate—Blaster talked about everything he had seen and done since he had last seen any other Autobots and everyone else talked about anything else that came to mind.

Once they were done, all the bots except for Blaster went to their quarters and Blaster, June and Smokescreen went to the main area, the latter two went to get June's things and bring them to Smokescreen's quarters.

Once inside, Smokescreen wiped enough dust off of the bed side table so June would be more comfortable but instead placed her in her sleeping bag on the memory foam gel padding that formed a "pillow" of sorts across the head of the berth so she would be more comfortable than she would be on a metal end table.

June looked around at the dust coated room "Smokescreen, I don't mean to pry but…"

Smokescreen cut her off as he sat on the edge of the berth. "If you're asking about the mess it's not all mine. Technically this room still belongs to the last bot that lived here so I don't want to move things around too much,"

June thought about it and remembered one of the kids mentioning there used to be six Autobots before the kids met them "Oh, right, this used to belong to Arcee's friend,"

Smokescreen winced at her choice of words as he lay down, careful not to jostle her when his helm landed on the other end of the foam pillow. "Yeah… _Arcee's friend. _She hates me now,"

"No, she doesn't…"

"Goodnight June,"

June realized he was giving her a "It's my problem, I'll deal with it" look and let it slide, for now. "Good night"

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_Meanwhile…_

Bulkhead deactivated his holoform and was back in his own body.

He scanned the room to see if anything happened while he way "away" and felt a familiar weight on his chest. He slowly on-lined his optics to see Miko was lying on his chest looking down at him. "What's wrong Miko?"

She looked at him skeptically like she knew he was hiding something "Why do you suddenly smell like burnt chocolate?"

Bulkhead froze _'Okay, so the energon converted from anything made of chocolate that our holoforms eat smells like burnt chocolate. Good to know.' _"Nothing, I don't. Go back to sleep,"

He picked up her sleeping bag she had unzipped and left next to him so she could climb on top of him and spread it over her so she would stay warm.

* * *

_**Kuso: "dammit" in Japanese.**_

_**Watashi go nihono o rikai: "I understand Japanese" said in Japanese.**_

_**Watashi mo: "me too" in Japanese.**_

_**Reviews; Crane (Guest),**_


	10. Chapter 10

Where There Is Smoke

Chapter 10

Rated T for language, self-harm and mentions of past self-harm.

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

"_Talking on the phone or recordings"_

:comm. link:

[Texting]

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Spark feelings_

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years.

* * *

The next morning, the humans all gathered in the kitchen area for breakfast—June played dumb when the kids found one of the bowls from the night before she had forgotten to wash out.—while the Autobots went to the main area for their morning rations.

Since he didn't really have any duties around the base, Wheeljack went with Bulkhead on the first patrol shift.

Blaster was exploring the halls while he waited for his shift on monitor duty when he found one of the rooms with the door slightly ajar with a few crates stacked outside. Curious, he peered inside and saw Smokescreen carrying another crate to the door to be placed with the others. "_**Hey, what's happenin', mech?"**_

Smokescreen looked up at the red-orange Communiction's Officer. "_**Oh, hey Blaster,"**_ Then he remembered Blaster was an officer. "_**I mean, Sir,"**_ he tried to salute but lost his grip on the crate he was trying to shift into one servo and almost dropped it.

Blaster caught it and set it on top of the stack out in the hallway. "_**Ah, come on, Smokescreen. Ya don' hafta do that 'Sir' stuff 'round meh, unless we're in a situation that calls fo' it ,"**_

Smokescreen looked embarrassed "_**Sorry,"**_

Blaster, as always, smiled "_**Don' be. So wha'cha up to?"**_

Smokescreen turned to try to pull an old recharge berth down form where it was leaned against the wall. "_**Trying to clean out this storage room so one of us can use it for quarters,"**_

Blaster stared at him for a moment, his optics seeing to bore into his very being, before he went to help him. "_**Ya mean so **__you __**can move in here an' get out of Cliffjumper's old room so ya don't have to deal with 'charging on a dead mech's berth and hopefully get off of Arcee's bad side,"**_

Smokescreen looked at him "_**How did you…" **_Blaster smiled and tapped the side of his helm. "_**Oh, right, I forgot you could do that,"**_

Blaster grabbed one end of the berth while Smokescreen held the other "_**Yeah, Ah can still read minds, just like Soundwave, Ah just don't do it as much cuz it's rude to invade the personal space in someone's head without permission unless necessary,"**_

As they lifted the berth away from the wall and shoved it into the corner, Blaster's insignia started flashing and beeping. "_**Huh, what?" **_he checked the alert popping up on his HUD and groaned "_**Ah, man,"**_

Smokescreen looked up from making sure the corner of the berth was flush against the wall "_**What's wrong?"**_

Blaster tapped his insignia to get it to stop flashing "_**Ah forgot Ah had another gig scheduled at a night club fo' tomorrow night. Ah don' think Ah'll be able to do that anymo',"**_

Smokescreen adjusted the padded cover on the berth "_**I'm sure if you explained the situation to Prime he might let you go. Where's it at?"**_

"_**A little place a few miles outside o' **_Las Vegas_**, close enough to it to be considered part o' **_Vegas _**but not close enough to be a tourist attraction like any of the places on **_The Strip_**,"**_

Smokescreen did a quick internet search to see where "Las Vegas" was and what exactly "The Strip" was. "_**Huh, that's actually not far from here. Only about ten hours if you drive,"**_

Blaster chuckled "_**How fast have you been driving, kid?"**_

Smokescreen smiled innocently and changed the subject "_**If worst comes to worst you can always use the ground bridge,"**_

Blaster thought about it. "_**A'ight, Ah'll explain the situation to Prahm later,"**_

_Later_

Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee were watching T.V. with the kids when Blaster and Optimus came into the main area, having just had a private meeting in the Prime's office.

Smokescreen saw the look on the CO's face and was curious "Hey, Blaster, what happened? You look like you just saw a Terrorcon,"

Blaster went to relieve Ratchet for his shift on the monitors "Just talked to Prahm 'bout that gig Ah had to do tomorrow night,"

The others watched him out of their peripheral vision curiously, Smokescreen pressed again "And?"

Blaster smirked "He's said he'll allow it and as long as we're careful any of ya that wanna come can come with,"

Bumblebee buzzed **(_Where is it at?)**_

"This place called 'World's End' it's about twenty minutes outside of Las Vegas,"

Miko jumped up from where she had been sitting on the couch "Sweet, clubbing in Vegas. Can I come with?"

Blaster smiled at her sadly, rubbing his helm. "Sorry, Miko-chan, but it's Twenty one or older,"

Ratchet noticed he had an uncomfortable expression on his face when he rubbed his helm almost like he was in pain. "_**Blaster, are you alright?"**_

Blaster nodded "_**Ah'm fine, just a processor ache. Ah get 'em sometimes,"**_

Ratchet frowned "_**Have you been taking any pain killers for it?"**_

Blaster hesitated and pulled a thick tube filled with dark blue liquid. "_**Ah'm down to mah last one. Ah was saving it for when I absolutely need it,"**_

While the two were talking, Jack had found something in the pocket of his overnight bag. He pulled out a small silver whistle. "Hey, forgot I still had this,"

Raf looked over at it "A whistle, how long have you had that?"

Jack tossed it up and caught it in his palm experimentally "I got it at a garage sale I went to with mom about a year ago,"

Miko leaned closer "Blow it, maybe it still works,"

Jack shrugged and put the whistle to his lips and blew. The humans didn't hear anything but all of the bots yelped and covered their audios, Bumblebee and Smokescreen fell to their knees while Blaster collapsed on the floor with a loud _crash _and curled up on his side.

Jack looked at the whistle and all of the bots. "Oh, that's why it never worked before. It's a dog whistle, it's too high pitched for humans to hear,"

Smokescreen rubbed his chevron while he stood back up "Trust me, Jack, that thing definitely works,"

They all noticed Blaster hadn't moved from his position on the floor. "Hey, Blaster, you okay over there?" there was no response so the others started to get worried.

Blaster knew the others were trying to rouse him but he could barely hear them, he felt like his whole helm was about to implode. Slowly, he sat up, wincing "Ow… okay, I definitely need that dose of painkillers now,"

The others watched as he picked up the tube he had shown Ratchet before and took a small syringe like the one Ratchet used for energon injections, only this one fit neatly into his palm, and loaded the tube into it and stabbed himself right between the optics with it right in front of everyone.

They thought he lost his mind and tried to stop him but by the time the initial shock wore off he was already through and rubbing his forehelm "Ah, much better,"

They all stared at him, except for Optimus and Ratchet who knew him well enough to know why he would do that, until Raf broke the silence "You didn't even flinch,"

Blaster rubbed his optics and smiled down at the boy. "Ah'm used to it, kiddo, Ah've had to do that a lot cuz processor aches come with the territory of bein' telepathic,"

Miko jumped up and went to lean on the railing. "You're telepathic? Okay then, read my mind!"

Blaster chuckled "Miko, in order for meh to read a human mind Ah'll have to link mah hackin' cables to their head," he narrowed his optics in mock suspicion as the humans all held their heads as if to check and see if they had something attached to them. "But Ah don' need to read ya mind to know ya wanna try Jack's dog whistle,"

As predicted, Miko lunged for the whistle but Jack pulled it out of her reach. "No, my whistle. Besides, you're enough of a headache as it is,"

Miko groaned so Bulkhead tried to cheer her up "Hey, Miko, how about we go see what Wheeljack is up to?"

Miko scrambled down the stairs, taking the steps two at a time, to ground level so she could trot alongside her guardian in search of their friend.

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_In a storage room in another part of the base_

Wheeljack dug between the crates looking for something "_**Come on, Come on, where are you?"**_

"Hey Wheejack!"

Wheeljack stood up to see who was behind him and hit his helm on a crate that was stacked just above him. He made a warbled _whoop_ noise and rubbed his helm as he crawled out and _then _stood up to see Miko standing behind him and Bulkhead entering the room. "Hey, guys, could you try a little harder to give me a spark attack next time?"

Miko looked past him to try to see what the Wrecker had been digging for. "What are you looking for?"

Wheeljack looked back at the crates "Last time I was here I hid a stash of rust sticks somewhere in this room so I wouldn't be too tempted to eat them all when I was stuck in the _Jackhammer. _Now I can't find them,"

Bulkhead looked at him with mock shock "You had rust sticks and you didn't share? Jerk,"

Wheeljack chuckled to himself "Don't worry, Bulk, I was going to share. Although it's kind of hard to do that if I don't know where the slagging things are…" Wheeljack scratched his helm trying to remember where exactly in the room he hid his treasure.

Miko ran between the crates "What do rust sticks look like?"

Bulkhead tried to describe the Cybertronian treat to the human girl "They're thick hollow tubes that are flaky and rust colored,"

Wheeljack crawled between another group of crates to help look "I put them in a container that looks kind of like the ones the Iacon relics were put in except it has green patterns on it instead of the dark patterns those ones did,"

Bulkhead went about shifting stacks of crates aside to check around them, not seeing the large pane of glass placed on top of one until it crashed on the floor and shattered. "Whoa, ah scrap,"

Miko climbed out from behind the crates she was searching around "Whoa, what did you do?"

Bulkhead sighed "That was a replacement windshield the government gave us a while back. Ratchet's going to be pissed when he finds out I broke it,"

Wheeljack kicked as many pieces as he could into a pile "So let's get it cleaned up before he finds out. You guys got a broom?"

Bulkhead told him where they kept the cleaning supplies were and tried to pick up as much glass as he could grab with his servos and put it in a waste bin while he went to get them.

Miko climbed out to try to pick up the smaller pieces her guardian couldn't pick up with his bigger digits. She was about to toss it into the bucket when the shard in her hand caught the light, prompting her to look at it; she noticed it was shaped kind of like a shurikan and some part of her mind told her it was beautiful, with the way it caught the light just right, and its razor sharp edges…

Bulkhead turned to look at her and she quickly put the piece behind her and picked up another and tossed it into the bucket. "Miko, be careful. You'll get cut on the glass,"

Miko hung her head "Okay, I'll go see if we have any human sized brooms I can use," she walked out of the room, concealing the shard in her had from his view.

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_Meanwhile, with the others_

Arcee, Bumblebee stood over their charges while the two boys tried to figure out what to do with Jack's new find.

"Maybe we can use it if one of us needs to get your guys' attention without anyone else noticing," Raf suggested.

Jack turned it around in his hand "That might work. I wonder what the range on this thing is,"

Arcee took a few steps towards the exit ramp "Let's go test it out,"

Jack grabbed his jacket and hopped on Arcee's alt. mode when she transformed.

The two of them peeled out of the base just as Wheeljack walked into the room and went over to where Ratchet was refilling Blasters pain killer tubes. "_**Uh, hey Ratch', we kind of… sort of… need to borrow the broom and dust pan,"**_

Ratchet put his servos on his hips "What did you break this time?"

Wheeljack rolled his eyes, not even bothering to pretend to be innocent "What do you mean?"

Ratchet pointed at the ground in front of him "You, Bulkhead and Miko are the ones that are most likely to break something important, the three of you were left alone for not even fifteen Earth minutes and here you come looking for the broom and dust pan,"

Suddenly Blaster jumped up and ran down the hallway Wheeljack just came from "_**Bulkhead, don't let Miko near that glass..."**_

The two brothers looked at each other before following Blaster.

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After Miko had left the storage room Bulkhead was in she went to the one next door and knelt in the corner. '_Just one more time… Surely that couldn't hurt too much, could it?'_

She pulled her shirt further up on her body and reached down to trace her scars to find an empty space for her "body art" '_Now what am I going to write this time?'_ she found an empty space on her side and slowly moved her little glass star to her skin.

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Bulkhead looked up when Blaster suddenly burst in the room like Megatron was after him. "_**Bulkhead, where's Miko?" **_

Bulkhead stood up and pointed out the door "_**She just went to find a broom to help clean up,"**_

Blaster scanned around trying to figure out which way she went. "_**Did she already pick some of it up?"**_

Bulkhead thought about it and nodded "_**Yeah, why?"**_

Blaster held his servos up and hissed like he wanted to curse but was holding it back as he ran down the hall.

Bulkhead trotted out the door to follow but stopped in the doorway when Wheeljack and Ratchet ran by. Ratchet doubled back to see the mess in the room "_**BULKHEAD, I…"**_

Bulkhead cut him off. "_**No you didn't. That was the old wind shield replacement the government gave us but it didn't fit any of us so you had us put it in storage,"**_

"_**MEDIC!"**_

Years of being field medic spurred Ratchet to sprint down the hallway to the room Blaster had found when he yelled that. Somehow Bulkhead made it there first, something told him whatever was going on had to do with Miko and his fear for the girl made him shoulder his way past the others and into the room.

There on the floor lay Miko, her face was pale and she wasn't moving. "Miko…" Bulkhead lunged for her but froze, a certain smell had reached his olfactory sensors; blood, lots of it. The only time he'd ever smelled this much was when he and the others had fought M.E.C.H., and when Miko and June were on something called "Periods".

He cautiously crept closer and saw her shirt was pulled up, exposing her midriff which had several small cuts, no doubt made by the shard of glass clutched loosely in her hand close to her body.

"MIKO!" he fell to his knees next to her, unsure of what to do but wanting to do something. Ratchet roughly shoved him aside and touched the side of her neck the way June had taught him with the tip of his digit to check her pulse. "Her pulse rate is normal… but the pulse itself is faint. She's still losing blood, we need to get her to the med. bay,"

Bulkhead carefully picked her up in his servos like she was a baby bird that had fallen out of its nest and followed Ratchet as he rushed to the med. bay to get the first aid kit he had acquired after Raf nearly died from dark energon exposure.

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Raf, Smokescreen and Bumblebee all jumped when the others came storming back into the room, especially since Ratchet had whooped his siren to get everyone to move out of his way.

"Move, Move, MOVE!" he ran into the med. bay and directed Bulkhead to place Miko on the gurney they kept in case any of their human allies were injured.

Raf ran to the edge of the platform to peer between the bars as the others crowded around the immediate area around the med. bay, all asking the same questions.

"Is she okay?"

"What happened?"

Ratchet huffed while he got out the human medical equipment "Miko cut herself on some glass. Smokescreen, get Nurse Darby, we might need her help,"

"On it!" Smokescreen turned and dove towards the exit, transforming as he went and peeled out of the base.

Right about this time Arcee and Jack were on their way into town, planning on starting at Jack's house and having Jack stand in his yard and blow the whistle every five seconds while Arcee gradually drove further away until she couldn't hear it any more to see how far the sound could reach.

They were just about to turn onto Jack's street when a certain red-white-and-blue _McLaren _sports car came rocketing past them like The Unmaker was after him.

Arcee opened a comm. channel with him. :Smokescreen, watch where you're going!:

Smokescreen only slowed down enough so he wasn't breaking the speed limit. :Sorry about that, but it's an emergency.:

Arcee turned around to follow him. :What's the emergency?:

:Miko's hurt, Ratchet sent me to get June in case we need her help.:

Arcee's holoform nodded :Okay, see you back at the base,:

Smokescreen sent a response ping to show he heard her and she made a sharp U-turn to go back to the base.

Jack held on to Arcee's holoform to keep from falling off "Whoa! Arcee, what's going on?"

Arcee repeated what Smokescreen had told her while she drove back to the base "Miko got hurt and Ratchet sent Smokescreen to go get your mom,"

Jack was immediately worried for the girl "What happened? Is she okay?"

"I don't know, he didn't tell me anything else," the two were quiet the rest of the trip.

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June was on break when she got a text from Ratchet [Miko hurt, might need help fixing her.]

Not even thinking about the fact Ratchet said "Fixing her" like she was a broken appliance or something, June grabbed her medical bag and ran out into the parking lot. Only to remember she didn't have a car anymore.

She was just about to call one of the bots for a lift when she saw Smokescreen pull up and circle around to meet her at the entrance. '_Bless his spark,'_

She climbed in as soon as the door opened and Smokescreen shut it and took off as soon as she was buckled in.

"What happened?"

Smokescreen explained while he drove, not using his holoform this time. "Miko and Bulkhead went to find Wheeljack after he went into one of the storage rooms for something. A few minutes later Wheeljack came back asking if he could borrow the broom and dust pan and Blaster took off down the hall shouting 'Bulkhead, don't let Miko near that glass'. When they got back Bulkhead was carrying Miko, she was out cold, her shirt was kind of pulled up and she had these weird looking cuts on her side,"

June nodded, already going over a plan of action in her mind "Okay, Ratchet has a trauma kit in the med. bay, we can use that when we get there,"

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As soon as Smokescreen came fishtailing into the parking bay in the base Ratchet came up to him to get June so Smokescreen transformed around her so she ended up in his servo and handed her to the medic like she were a baton in a relay race so Ratchet could set her next to the gurney Miko was on so the two could begin.

Seeing as his part was done there, Smokescreen went over to the main area where the others were; Or rather where the others were watching Bulkhead pace a rut in the floor.

Wheeljack leaned against the wall and tried to console his friend. "Bulkhead, come on, she's going to be fine. Miko's one tough little Wrecker,"

Bulkhead shook his helm and kept pacing. "I know but… if I kept a closer watch on her… or better yet never let her near that glass…"

Arcee finally had enough of the big green mech walking back and forth and grabbed him by the arms. "Bulkhead, I know you feel bad but making the rest of us and yourself dizzy with the way you're pacing won't make Miko get better… any faster," she quickly added before Bulkhead could think that she was saying Miko would never get any better.

After a few minutes June came out of the med. bay and walked up to the humans' area.

Bulkhead went right up to her. "Is Miko okay?"

June looked up at him and was about to demand where Miko could have found the glass she cut herself with but the look on his face plates convinced her otherwise. "Miko will be fine, we stopped the bleeding and I stitched her up. All she needs right now is some rest,"

"Can I see her?"

June pointed towards the med. bay "Ask the doctor, he's the one in charge of the med. bay right now,"

Bulkhead went over to the med. bay and looked inside. Ratchet was in his holoform putting the human equipment they had used back into the medical kit it came from while Miko lay on the gurney as if she were asleep.

Ratchet didn't have to turn around to know who it was, he just sighed and said "_**She'll be fine, Bulkhead, you can see her now. Just try not to wake her, she's supposed to be resting,"**_

Bulkhead's optics never left Miko's prone form as he slowly crept up to the gurney and knelt down next to it and looked her over to make sure for himself she was alright.

Ratchet and June had cut a slit in the side of her shirt so they could pull it aside while they worked so Bulkhead could clearly see the cuts in her side that had been stitched up by course black surgical thread.

After looking for a moment he noticed the cuts formed a pattern that looked similar to Japanese writing. He pulled the corner of the cut shirt back, just enough for a better look but not too revealing, and saw her torso was littered with scars; all of which were Japanese symbols, she had done this before.

He looked up the written Japanese language on the internet and was shocked by the translations. She had carved words like "weakling" "brat" "stupid" "bitch" and many others into her flesh, the most recent one being "unworthy".

"Miko…" He gently reached down and stroked her hair with his digit.

Miko stirred at the contact and slowly opened her eyes and looked up at him blinkingly. "H-hey, Bulk, what's up?" her voice was quiet and hoarse.

Bulkhead looked at her with concern and, worst of all, pity. "Miko, why did you… why didn't you tell me?" he gently touched one of her scars so she knew what he was talking about.

Miko looked away and sighed "I just… I don't know why I started but once I did I kept doing it, because I needed some kind of release. I didn't say anything because I'm a little ashamed of it, and the fact that I had to be put on meds for it,"

Bulkhead tilted his helm at her "Meds?"

"Medicine, I got put on it because at one point I was ready to give up. I was under a lot of pressure from my parents to do better in school and pretty much everyone at the school they sent me to was a jerk, except for this one girl. She was the only friend I had there, she was the one that introduced me to Slash Monkey, but one day she went missing and no one cared, the police didn't even bother looking for her, so I got worse and put on meds,"

She turned away from him completely and mumbled "But you guys hate how I get when I'm on them so I've been skipping doses,"

While they were talking, Ratchet was listening form where he was working on the other side of the med. bay and cringed with guilt when he heard Miko was denying herself needed medical aide because they were irritated with the way the side effects affected her behavior. He was going to have a talk with the others about this.

Bulkhead frowned and gently pulled her into his servo and sat down on one of the Cybertronian med. berths. His facial expression softened when she looked up at him and he gently traced each of her scars like he was wiping dust off a page of a book he was trying to read.

"Strong, unique, clever, amazing…"

Miko snorted "That's not what they say, Bulk,"

Bulkhead smiled down at her "I know, but what they do say is wrong because you are definitely…" his digits hovered over the newest one "… more than meets the eye,"

Miko smiled and hugged his servo "Thanks Bulkhead,"

* * *

_**AN: Thank you everyone that has read this and a quick shout out to everyone that reviewed and added; Kaleia (Guest), PrincessLeahPrime, Kuro Rotasu, Black1Bee, Alc Fluteo, final-zangetsu, **_


	11. Chapter 11

Where There Is Smoke

Rated T for language, alcohol use and anything else I forgot to add.

Disclaimer: I own nothing here except my OC's and original concepts included to fill in any blanks left by the actual show.

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

"_Talking on the phone or recordings"_

:comm. link:

[Texting]

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Spark feelings_

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years

* * *

Miko spent another night at the base for observation after June called her host parents and told them she hurt herself on some broken glass she had found and tried to pick up, which wasn't a complete lie.

The next day was Monday so the children were taken to school while June was taken to work and the Autobots went about their usual business.

That night the other bots, with the exception of Optimus and Ratchet, gathered around the ground bridge with Blaster.

Blaster looked around at the others that were waiting for the ground bridge to open "_**A'ight, everyone here that wants to go?"**_

Wheeljack looked at everyone else and walked away. "_**Pfft, I was waiting by the ground bridge so I could get back to my ship and get out of this hole,"**_

Blaster smirked to himself and pretended to not care "_**Hey, Wheeljack, help meh make it look like the DJ equipment Ah'm hauling in is actually as heavy as it is to humans an' drinks are on meh,"**_

Wheeljack stopped midstep and thought about it for a second with his ped still in the air. "_**Deal," **_he pivoted around and rejoined the others just as the swirling green portal hummed to life.

Once they all stepped through they came out on the other side in a patch of Nevada desert they had never been to before. The lights of the Las Vegas Strip shone in the distance, they all transformed into their vehicle modes and followed Blaster to a small building just outside of the city limits.

Arcee activated her holoform as they got closer so no one would see a motorcycle driving itself. "_This _is a night club?"

Blaster lead them around back and they all parked by a door that was marked "Employees only," "Most of it is below ground level, Ah'll go let the manager know we're back here,"

Blaster activated his holoform and went around the side of the building and a short time later he came out the door with a man with blonde hair wearing a light blue shirt and khakis who frowned at the other bots in holoform "Who are all of you? The main entrance is out front," the man spoke with a gruff south-western accent.

Blaster held up a hand "Hey, chill man. These are some friends o' mine that Ah asked to help move some of mah equipment,"

The manager looked at them skeptically "They're all old enough to be in here, right?"

They all nodded, they were all older than the city of Las Vegas itself but they weren't going to tell him that. The man nodded back "Ok, make it quick. I don't want any minors sneaking in the back door,"

The man turned and left and the others turned to Blaster. "So, now what?"

Blaster went over and opened the tailgate of his alt. mode "Like Ah said befo', This stuff is supposed to be heavy fo' humans to lift so if Ah carry it in like Ah normally would the humans ah gonna know somethin's up so I need some help making it look like it is as heavy as a human would think it was,"

The others all paired off and "hefted" whatever speakers or other piece of sound equipment was in the back of Blaster's vehicle mode while Arcee, who was the smallest and least likely to lift the heavier stuff had she been actually human, went ahead of them and held the doors for them.

The inside of the night club was built like a nine tiered cake that was flipped upside down and had steps leading from the entrances and exits down to the bottom level where the dance floor was. The top tier was where the bar was located opposite the DJ's sound booth and the rest rooms were located on the side where they had come in, the seven tiers below it was all tables and booths for people to sit at and the bottom was the dance floor which was lit by black lights and strobe lights to make it look like the inside of a storm cloud.

Once they got everything hauled in and set up Blaster checked to make sure everything was where it should be.

"A'ight thanks guys. Well, a deal's a deal," he led them over to the bar, Smokescreen and Bumblebee didn't want anything so they went down the steps to find a spot for them to sit. Blaster tapped his hand on the bar top "Hey, bartender,"

A tall man with hazel eyes and dark hair that was spiked up with neon blue colored gel wearing a white button up shirt and black slacks came up to him. The man wiped his hands on a rag, having just washed his hands in the sink behind the bar. "Can I help you?"

Blaster smiled at him "Sho' thing, my man. I was wonderin' if it were possible to open a tab fo' mah friends here. They helped meh move mah equipment so I was gonna pay fo' their drinks. Would that be a'ight?"

The bartender thought about it and nodded. "Okay, that would be 'a'ight',"

Blaster specified that it would be _just _himself andthe other five of them included on this tab so no one else tried to add themselves to it when they didn't want to pay for their own drinks.

The man took out a notepad to right down whatever was placed on the tab to be added up later. "Alright, and your name would be?"

"Billy Laster, DJ-ing under the stage name "Master Blaster"," Blaster went back to the DJ's booth to make some last minute preparations before the night officially started.

Wheeljack looked at Bulkhead "Hey, Bulk, let's have a drinking contest. For old time's sake,"

Bulkhead rubbed the back of his head and looked up at the drink choices. "I don't know, Jackie, Blaster said he'd buy for us but that doesn't mean we can just go crazy and stick him with the bill,"

What Bulkhead didn't say out loud was that, while he was tempted, he also didn't want to get too drunk that night because he didn't want Miko to find out and he had been trying to set a better example for her.

Wheeljack elbowed Bulkhead. "Ah, c'mon, Bulk, where's that Wrecker sense of adventure?"

Then Bulkhead spotted something on the list of drinks. '_Jello shots? What are those?'_

He knew what shots were so he looked up "Jello" on the internet, which told him it was a dessert that was popular among human children and also liked by adults. '_Hmm, those must be for when someone who's old enough to be in here brings kids with them because they can't find anyone to watch them…'_ Bulkhead pointed at the name on the drinks menu "How about we use a few of those? They're cheaper than the other shots so we're not mooching off of Blaster's payroll as much,"

Wheeljack nodded and tapped his hand on the bar top to get the bartender's attention. "Hey, bartender,"

The bartender turned around to face Wheeljack's holoform. "Yes?"

Wheeljack smirked at him "Can me and my buddy get a few shots? We're gonna have a little contest,"

The bartender quirked an eyebrow at him "A drinking contest?"

Wheeljack rolled his eyes "Well, we're not going to be having a _drawing _contest with them,"

The bartender laughed, seeing the humor in Wheeljack's sarcasm. "Alright, just asking because any shots used in drinking contests here come by the tray. Did you want a certain kind or do you want me to pick one at random?"

Wheeljack looked over at Bulkhead "What ones did you say you wanted to use again?"

Bulkhead rubbed his head "Uh, Jello shots?"

The bartender looked at him strangely then shrugged and got out a tray and loaded it with small plastic cups filled with multi-colored gelatin. "Alright boys, here's your Jello shots. May the best drinker win,"

While Wheeljack picked up the tray and went over to the table Smokescreen and Bumblebee saved for them with Bulkhead close behind him, the bartender leaned against the bar and looked over at Arcee with a flirtatious smile. "And what will the lady be having tonight?"

Deciding to be a smart ass, Arcee half-smiled at him and said "How about a nice glass of… Bite me!"

The bartender smiled and said "Alright, one 'Bite me' coming up," he turned around to get started on the drink he was fixing for her.

Confused, Arcee did some research on the internet and found that "Bite me", while being an insult, was also the name for a cocktail. '_Well, this ought to be interesting,'_

After the bartender gave Arcee her drink she thanked the man and went over to where the others were sitting. As she walked away he called over his shoulder to someone in the back room "Hey, Cheryl, we're going to need some more Jello shots ready!"

By the time she got down to their table Bulkhead and Wheeljack were sucking down their Jello shots while Smokescreen kept track of how many Wheeljack had and Bumblebee kept track of how many Bulkhead had.

Arcee rolled her eyes as she sat down. "Really, guys, I'm not even gone five minutes and you're acting like animals?"

They all stopped long enough to shrug before resuming their contest.

In the end, Wheeljack won the contest being as he snatched the last one off the tray while Bulkhead reeled for a moment as the alcohol started to kick in and by then Arcee had come back with a refill on her drink—turns out "Bite me"s taste pretty good—and there were a lot more people there having drinks or down on the dance floor moving to the beat of Blaster's music under the crazy lighting.

After a while Bumblebee tried to get everyone to get up and dance, Wheeljack and Bulkhead absolutely refused but Arcee only hesitated a moment before letting the scout pulled her up and lead her to the steps that lead down to the floor.

"Wait, what do I do with this?" she held up her drink so Wheeljack grabbed a coaster off the stack of them in the center of the table.

"Put a coaster over the top of the glass, it's universal human bar lingo for 'This is mine, I'm coming back for it so leave it alone',"

Smokescreen looked at him "How would you know that?"

Wheeljack smirked "As soon as I got my holoform I went bar hopping in Rio, needed something to do when the 'Cons were quiet,"

Smokescreen nodded and started to lean back in his seat when a hand grabbed his. He looked up and saw Arcee's holoform pulling him with her as she took a step towards the steps leading down to the dance floor.

"Want to dance?" Smokescreen hesitated so she pulled him to his feet. "Come on, one dance isn't going to kill you,"

Smokescreen followed her and Bumblebee to the dance floor where the two mech's holoform's shone under the black lights due to the white and yellow clothing they were wearing while Arcee became like a constellation in the night sky that had been brought to life and was dancing gracefully between them as they formed a circle and danced together.

What no one else knew was that Arcee used to be a dancer before the war, she was also going to school to be a teacher but dancing was always her passion and with passion she danced.

Smokescreen couldn't help but stare at her as the strobe light changed to mimic lights that were reflected off of water ripples and the black lights had a sort of "moonlight" effect on her; she was beautiful.

Bumblebee was completely oblivious as he just danced wildly using moves Raf had taught him while Arcee used motions that combined ballet, hip hop and interpretive dance and Smokescreen just swayed to the music enough to look like he actually knew what he was doing.

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At two o'clock the bartender sent a waitress over to the DJ's table to ask Blaster to announce the last call for alcohol which he did and then started playing slower songs to "Wind things down for the night,"

After most of the people filed out of the club, the 'Bots in holoform helped Blaster load his "gear" onto a cart to keep up the pretense that the detachable components that formed part of his robotic body were just heavy pieces of sound system equipment and grabbed their holographic jackets and started to walk towards the back door they had come in.

Bulkhead was leaning heavily against Wheeljack, who could barely walk straight himself, while Bumblebee made sure made sure the two actually made it out the door and to their alt. modes—he almost had a mini panic attack when he saw they almost accidently wandered into the entrance to the ladies room instead of the exit.

Smokescreen was about to follow them out when he noticed Arcee was leaning against the back of the chair she had been sitting in with her eye lids at half-mast as if she were about to fall over from exhaustion.

Cautiously, he went over and nudged her side with his elbow "Hey, you okay?"

Arcee's head snapped up and she looked at him "Yeah, I'm fine. Just dizzy,"

Smokescreen nodded "Come on, let's get you home," Arcee stiffened when he put his arm around her to try to support her "Don't worry, I'm not going to try anything. I just want to make sure you don't accidently go into the wrong restroom like Bulkhead and Wheeljack did,"

Arcee relaxed slightly and let Smokescreen walk her outside where they all climbed into, or in her case onto, their alt. modes and Blaster put his sound systems into place since no one was around to see him lifting a speaker almost as big as he was in one arm and a sound board in the other.

Once everyone was set they all transformed into robot mode so they could hop the fence so they wouldn't have to circle around a few blocks to get into the open field out back where Ratchet could send a ground bridge without anyone seeing it.

But as soon as the 'Bots that drank that night got into robot mode, they all could tell something was wrong. Bulkhead, Wheeljack and Arcee all felt a tingling in their circuits and swayed on their peds as if they were drunk.

Smokescreen steadied Arcee since he was the closest one to her while Blaster and Bumblebee tried to hold Bulkhead up with help from Wheeljack, who wasn't as bad off as the other two.

Smokescreen patted on the side of Arcee's faceplate to try to keep her awake "_**Arcee, You sure you're okay?"**_

Arcee slowly reached up and rubbed her optics. "_**Mmmm, I feel like I'm overcharged. But how? I just had a few drinks with human alcohol in them…"**_

Blaster' helm snapped up "_**What kinda alcohol was it and how much did ya have?"**_

Arcee shrugged "_**I don't know… I had a few 'Bite me's "**_

Bulkhead rubbed his helm and mumbled "_**Jackie and me just had Jello shots so I think we're safe,"**_

Wheeljack looked up at Bulkhead "_**Bulkhead, Jello shots have alcohol in them. That's why they're shots,"**_

Bulkhead's optics widened "_**So we **__were __**drinking alcohol?"**_

"_**What did you think we were doing? Having a Jello eating contest?"**_

"…_**Yes,"**_

While the two Wreckers were bickering, Blaster looked up the recipes for the Arcee's drink choice and "Jello shots" and groaned "_**Guys, that stuff's got rum in it. Rum has a high alcohol content so it's highly flammable. Which means ya get even more energy out of it than anythin' else. So yeah, the three o' ya ah overcharged,"**_

The others were quiet for a moment until Bumblebee buzzed _**(Ratchet's not gonna be happy.)**_

Wheeljack snorted "_**He'll only be upset because we're overcharged and he's not. Tell him if he has a '**_mint mojito' _**while in holoform it'll be the same as Praxian high grade and he'll shut right up,"**_

Blaster contacted the base :Ratchet, we need a ground bridge to our coordinates. Arcee, Bulkhead and Wheeljack can't drive right now.:

He got a response ping and cut off the link just as Bulkhead passed out on the ground.

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_Back at the base _

When Ratchet got the communiqué from Blaster he feared the worst, years of being a field medic in a war did that to a bot, and opened the ground bridge portal and waited to see if someone would come through.

Smokescreen stepped out of the ground ridge with Arcee in his servos bridal style. Ratchet gave the two of them a double take before shaking off the initial shock and asking "_**What happened? Where are the others?"**_

Smokescreen nodded towards the still open portal "_**Still trying to figure out how to get Bulkhead back to base. The mech can't even walk straight…"**_

A second later the others came through the portal; Blaster, Wheeljack and Bumblebee had tied Bulkhead's hands and feet together so he was curled up in fetal position and were now rolling him into the base like a giant beach ball.

Ratchet put his servos on his hips and frowned at them "_**Seriously?"**_

Wheeljack shrugged "_**It was the only thing we could think of since we can't exactly carry the big lug,"**_

Ratchet pinched the spot between his optics. "_**Fine, just put him someplace out of the way. He can go back to his room when he's able,"**_

"_**No problem, Doc, we can just put him in his room now," **_

While they were talking, Arcee stirred in Smokescreen's arm-servos. At first he paid her no more mind than making sure he didn't drop her, but then he noticed the way her helm was rubbing against his chest plates and her arm-servos were tightening around him and realized she was _cuddling _with him!

"_**Uh, I'll go see if I can get Arcee to remember the access code to her quarters so she can recharge in her berth tonight,"**_

Smokescreen started to walk down the hall but stiffened when Arcee's digits started to find their way into the seams between his armor. "_**Whoa, hey don't do that**_," he looked over at the mechs that were about to start rolling Bulkhead again "_**Um, one of you guys want to trade?"**_

Arcee seemed to hear him, she wrapped her arm-servos around his neck and whimpered, like she was afraid he was going to drop her off with someone else, or just drop her.

Wheeljack saw this and chuckled "_**Nah. She wants you, Smokescreen,"**_

Smokescreen adjusted his hold on her mumbling "_**Poor choice of words, Wheeljack,"**_

Smokescreen carried Arcee down the hall and to her quarters, the femme gradually relaxed in his arm-servos the longer he held her. When he came to her door he nudged her with his digits "_**Hey, Arcee, we're here. You think you can unlock the door?"**_

Arcee slowly brought her optics online and looked up at him groggily then she looked at the keypad like she had never seen it before.

Realizing Arcee was probably too out of it to remember the access code, Smokescreen looked around and then at the door to the quarters he was assigned which happened to be across the hall.

The others had already brought Bulkhead in his room and Bumblebee went to his quarters while Blaster went to the room he and Smokescreen had cleaned out which he converted to his own quarters.

"_**Ah, screw it. I'll just stay at the garage tonight," **_Smokescreen stepped across the hall so he could open his own door. He had a hard time keying in the code with her in his arm-servos so he shifted her so she was over his shoulder, careful not to drop her or accidently hit his doorwings, so he had one servo free.

Arcee let her arm-servos swing and giggled "_**Whee! I'm upside down,"**_

While Smokescreen was typing in the code, Arcee caught sight of Smokescreen's aft and got a mischievous smirk on her face. Striking like a viper, she reached down with both servos and brought them down on Smokescreen's aft with a loud _smack _and squeezed.

Smokescreen jumped with a loud yelp, making Arcee giggle with her servos now over her mouth. Smokescreen craned his neck to try to look over his other shoulder at her. "_**Oh, you think that is funny, huh?"**_

He punched in the last few digits of the code and maneuvered her back down into his arm-servos as the door slid open so he could carry her over to the berth that was set up in the corner.

As Smokescreen walked in and carefully laid Arcee on the berth, she looked up at him, her processors so fuzzy from the extra energy that was derived from the flammable alcohol her holoform consumed that evening she couldn't even recognize him. '_Who is this? Why does he seem so familiar?'_

Then she got a look at the room they were in and recognized it '_Oh, I think I remember now. Primus, how could I forget _him_?'_

Smokescreen carefully laid her on the berth "_**Sorry I couldn't bring you to your own quarters, Arcee, but you're welcome to recharge here for the night,"**_

She looked up at him with a dopey little smile on her face "_**Are you gonna re-sh-arge here too?" **_her speech pattern was slurred with intoxication.

Smokescreen went and grabbed the waste bin out of the corner and placed it next to the berth. "_**No, I'll let you have the berth and recharge somewhere else. Waste bin's right next to the berth in case you need it,"**_

Arcee pushed herself to an almost-seated position and pulled Smokescreen into a hug. "_**You're awesome, you know that?"**_

Smokescreen stiffened then relaxed. "_**Oh, yeah?" **_If she was just saying that because she was drunk all he could do was play along so he wouldn't offend her, but if she really meant it…

Arcee nodded "_**Uh huh, you were always sho nice to me and I've been nothing but a glitch to everybot. I don't really mean it, I'm just having a hard time getting over… ya know,"**_

Smokescreen hugged her back "_**I know, I know,"**_ he spoke softly but in his mind he was cheering '_SHE LIKES ME! SHE LIKES ME!' _

"_**Thank you," **_Arcee tightened her grip before releasing him, suddenly very tired.

Smokescreen noticed and eased her back onto the berth. "_**Power down, you'll feel better after some recharge," **_

Arcee shuttered her optics and lay still so Smokescreen stood up and walked out of the room with a new spring in his step.

What he didn't notice was Arcee opened one of her optic shutters a crack and whispered"_**You're the best… Cliff,"**_

* * *

_**AN: ***__le gasp* __**What's going to happen next? Find out in the next chapter.**_

_**Another shout out to the people that read this, namely Kaleia (Guest) and Sparklight Prime.**_


	12. Chapter 12

Where There Is Smoke

Disclaimer: I own nothing but any OC's, the song used is "follow you home" by Nickelback, I just tweaked some of the lyrics to fit the context.

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

"_Talking on the phone or recordings"_

:comm. link:

[Texting]

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Spark feelings_

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years

* * *

The next morning, Bumblebee and Smokescreen went to pick up the humans since Arcee and Bulkhead had yet to emerge from their rooms after they woke up at dark-o'clock-in-the-morning to hobble back to their own rooms to sleep off the night before.

Jack rode with Smokescreen when he dropped June off at work before going back to the base while Bumblebee swung by Miko's host parent's house while he was out getting Raf. A similar arrangement was made to pick the children up from school; Bumblebee brought Miko and Raf to the base while Smokescreen dropped Jack off at work and met them there.

The two doorwinged 'Bots were standing next the humans' area where the children were watching TV when Arcee came into the room, rubbing her aching helm.

When Smokescreen saw her his chevron flushed a deeper red and he waved his doorwings in a "Hello, I'm over here. Look at me" fashion. Miko saw this and was curious as to why Smokescreen suddenly started acting strangely.

Arcee didn't even notice, she just went and got her morning energon ration grumbling. "_**Ugh, my processors are **__killing __**me!"**_

Blaster was at the computer searching the internet for any pictures or articles that could expose their existence that Raf might have missed when he was scrubbing the sites the day before with an uncharacteristic frown on his faceplates. "That's what ya get fo' drinkin' half mah earnings last night,"

Ratchet looked over at Blaster in disbelief "Seriously, they drank that much?"

Blaster nodded "Arcee had four 'Bite me's and Wheeljack and Bulkhead's drinkin' contest involved each of them drinkin' a whole batch of Jello shots plus the one that left Wheeljack the winner," He opened another conspiracy site and check the images posted there mumbling "Ya'll ah gonna be hung over for a _long _time,"

Wheeljack came stumbling in next, wincing at the bright lights "Ah, come on, it wasn't that bad. And what do you need human money for anyway, Blaster?"

Blaster sighed and swapped out a picture that looked kind of like a glimpse of Arcee in robot mode for a gif of a girl doing "the robot" wearing a suit made out of rope lights to go with the heading "_Robot Girl?"._ "Unlike the rest o' ya, Ah've been tryin' to pay back the government for the damages Ah caused when we landed on Earth,"

Miko perked up "'We'? Who else landed with you?"

"Mah buddy Tracks, he got a job with the secret service while Ah got a job as a travelin' DJ, payin' them back one gig at a time. Yo' lil drinkin' binge last night put meh back even further,"

Arcee grabbed her energon and went back down the hall where the bot's quarters were. "I'm going to go wake up Bulkhead. If the rest of us have to suffer so does he,"

After she was out of the room Miko scooted closer to Smokescreen, whose chevron and doorwings went back to normal as soon as Arcee was out of sight, and whispered "Hey Smokescreen,"

Smokescreen leaned closer and staged whispered back "What?"

Miko smirked and tilted her head towards the direction the femme had gone "Did you just get a 'wing-boner' when Arcee walked in?"

Smokescreen looked up the phrase on the internet and blushed, cooling fans turning on "Oh no, no, no! No I didn't! That's not what I was doing at all," he shook his helm and held out his servos in a "Whoa, slow down there," gesture.

Bumblebee overheard and scooted closer with a "smile" in his optics. **(You did bring her back to your quarters last night…)**

Smokescreen face palmed "I let her stay in my quarters because she was too out of it to remember the code to her own quarters."

**(After she grabbed your aft in the hallway.)**

Smokescreen blushed "Nothing happened, I swear,"

Bumblebee grinned and started poking Smokescreen in the side teasingly **(Smokescreen and Arcee, parked beneath a tree, K-I-S-S-…)**

Smokescreen grabbed one of Bumblebee's servos and bent his index digit back, making him dance around emitting distressed squeaks from his vocoder. "Bumblebee, Arcee stayed in the quarters I have here at the base while I stayed in Jack and June's garage last night,"

Bumblebee nodded **(Oh, okay.)**

Smokescreen let him go and they all returned their attention to the TV, which was showing an Animal Planet documentary about a pride of lions in Africa.

The more the show went on, Smokescreen noticed the lionesses reminded him of someone. '_The way they hunt is the same way she is in battle… they look after their cubs the way she looks after Jack… both are beautiful, strong, and powerful…Dammit! I can't even watch Animal Planet without thinking about her anymore.'_

That was when he decided he would do something about it.

Already having part of a plan in his processors, he went over to the only 'Bot he knew would be able to help him. "_**Hey Wheeljack, can I ask you something?"**_

The Wrecker smirked at him "_**You just did,"**_

"_**No, seriously,"**_

Wheeljack thought about it and looked around to see if anyone else was looking before jerking his helm towards the hallway that lead to the training room.

The two mechs went to the training room as if to spar and closed the door behind them. Once they were safely inside, Wheeljack turned to his nephew and crossed his arm-servos. "_**Alright, kid, what's this about?"**_

Smokescreen rubbed his helm awkwardly. "_**Uh… how… h-how did you and Perceptor start going out when you first started?"**_

Wheeljack looked at him strangely "_**Are you trying to nose in on my private love life or are you asking for personal dating advise?"**_

Smokescreen twitched his doorwings nervously "_**Advise, please?"**_

Wheeljack smirked "_**Is it for the same one you 'fell for' when you were a Youngling?"**_

"_**Hey! ...Yes," **_He started out defensive but slumped in defeat, regretting telling his uncle about _everything _that happened that day way back when.

Wheeljack's smile softend as he clasped the Praxian on the shoulder. "_**I think I know something that might help. I got all the materials for it in the **__Jackhammer__**. Except for that batch of rust sticks I hid in that storage room, still didn't find those when Bulkhead and Miko were helping me look before,"**_

"_**Oh, that's what you were doing in there? Ratchet already found them, he's got them in the med. bay,"**_

"_**What… RATCHET!" **_Wheeljack sprinted from the room to get his rust sticks back from his brother with Smokescreen following close behind.

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That night, Arcee went to her quarters to get a data pad to read while she waited for Smokescreen to get back to the garage with June. June's shift didn't get done until eleven that night so she was going to wait until they got back so she could let them in… and she wasn't going to bother trying to go into recharge if she was just going to be woken up again if the mech decided to rev his sports car engine to announce himself to the _whole freaking neighborhood_.

When she got to her quarters she found something outside her door wrapped in some packing material that was obviously pulled out of one of the old crates in the base that had a note addressed to her attached to it with a piece of string. She looked around to see if whoever left it there was still about but saw no one.

Carefully picking it up in case it was breakable, Arcee brought the package into her room and set it on the berth.

She opened the note and read it, "_I figured you could use a treat after what you've been through, My Blue Lioness,_"

Frowning at the strange nickname the addressee seemed to have for her, she carefully unwrapped the packing and gasped; it was a crudely fashioned vase filled with about a dozen flowers meant to resemble Earth's roses that were made entirely out of Cybertronian sweets. They had rust sticks for the stems with petals made from Lacewing crystal and half of them had a Fire crystal in the center while the rest had an Ice crystal in the center.

'_Who could've… Who would've…' _she checked the card to try to see where it had come from but found nothing except for her designation on the front and the message inside.

Arcee looked back at the bouquet and smiled '_Probably just the guys trying to cheer me up,'_

She moved the vase to her berthside table and got her data pad and left… after she slipped one of the flowers into her subspace to give her something to munch on while she read.

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Ratchet and Wheeljack were waiting in the med. bay when Smokescreen burst in and hid behind the computer so they could see him but anyone coming from the hallway he just did could not. "_**Well?"**_

Smokescreen looked around the corner to see if he had been followed "_**Holy scrap, I think she almost saw me…"**_

Ratchet pressed again "_**Well, did you do it?"**_

Smokescreen sighed in relief "_**Yeah, I did it,"**_

Wheeljack crossed his servos from where he leaned against one of the med. berths "_**Did you sign the note?"**_

Smokescreen's doorwings snapped up in a surprised 'V' and his optics widened "_**Scrap, I knew I forgot something!"**_

The two older mechs shushed him "_**No, that's good. You said you wanted to do this by Praxian tradition and according to Praxian tradition you're not supposed to sign it, she has to guess who sent it. If she doesn't figure it out by tomorrow night you're supposed to try something to get her attention,"**_

Wheeljack nodded and added to what Ratchet just said._** "And thanks to that Academy you went to you're a trained Diversionary tactician so I'm sure you'll figure something out for that," **_

Smokescreen smiled at them "_**Thanks guys, and thanks for letting me use that stuff for the flowers, Wheeljack,"**_

The Wrecker thumped his nephew on the back "_**I'm just glad you stopped screwing around and actually made a move after all this time,"**_

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The next day, all of the bots dropped their charges off at either school or work and went on patrol for Decepticon activity or new energon sources. Luckily Bulkhead found an untapped deposit in his sector and there was no sign of the 'Cons. But the latter only put them all on edge, Megatron had never been this quiet for so long before.

While they were all hauling in crates of raw energon to be refined, Bumblebee noticed Arcee had a little white flower made out of crystal tucked behind the pink ornamentation on the side of her helm like a human would tuck a flower behind their ear. **(Hey, that's pretty. Where'd you get it?)**

Arcee gently fingered the candy flower and looked at each of the mechs with her to gauge their reaction. "_**I found it in the hallway. Anybot know how it could have gotten there?" **_

See, Arcee had planned this; she knew that if she publicly acknowledged receiving a gift from someone in the manner she had by Cybertronian culture that would mean she and whoever gave her that gift were "going out". Problem was she didn't know who left the flowers outside her room last night so she wore one of the flowers in plain sight to see how everyone reacted to it.

Bumblebee honestly never seen it before, Bulkhead looked at her strangely, Wheeljack just rolled his optics and resumed his work and if Optimus, Ratchet or Blaster even noticed they didn't show it.

Smokescreen smiled at her and said "_**It looks nice on you," **_

Unfortunately, Arcee didn't notice anything about the Praxian's behavior that was any different than usual and no one else seemed to know anything so she was no closer to finding out who left her the flowers than she was last night and, with a sigh of defeat that was disguised as a grunt of excursion, she hefted one of the smaller boxes and carried it back to the storage room.

As soon as she was gone Smokescreen rubbed his face plates with one servo. "_**Primus, that femme is **__oblivious__**…"**_

Fortunately, he had been right next to Blaster when he mumbled this so the red-orange mech leaned over and whispered. "_**She knows why those flowers were left there fo' her but she dunno **__who __**left 'em there so she was tryin' to trick one o' ya into admitting it. Obviously it didn't work 'cause she's still clueless so yo' gonna have to try somethin' else, mech,"**_

Smokescreen nodded and went back to work, already mulling over a possible Plan B in his processor. '_Something else… what haven't I tried yet?'_

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Later that afternoon when Bulkhead and Bumblebee brought Miko and Raf to the base and Arcee was still out dropping Jack off at work, Smokescreen pulled Miko to the side. "Hey, Miko, can I have a word with you?"

Miko looked up at him "Depends, who's asking?"

Smokescreen smirked; he knew that trick and called her bluff. "You see a badge on me anywhere?"

Miko smiled and went to follow him. Bulkhead noticed and asked "Hey, where are you going Miko?"

Miko looked up at her guardian "Oh come on Bulk, Jack and June got some one-on-one time with the new guy, why can't I have a turn?"

Bulkhead looked unsure; he trusted the mech but after what happened with the Star Saber he was a little worried the same thing might happen with Miko.

Miko knew he was hesitant and smiled up at him "I'm just going to talk to Smokescreen about something. I'll be back before you know it,"

After a moment's hesitation, Bulkhead nodded and Smokescreen waved Miko to the human elevator to the roof while he went to the lift that would take him topside.

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Miko stepped out onto the roof of the base—thankful she left her jacket on, it was cold up there—as Smokescreen stepped off the lift and sat down on the edge next to her. "So, what was it you wanted to talk about?"

Smokescreen looked down at the ground below "Okay, this is kind of embarrassing but…"

Miko leaned closer, half-expecting gossip, as Smokescreen took a deep intake and blurted out. "What sort of things usually get a girl's attention?"

Miko tilted her head at hum. "Huh?"

Smokescreen rubbed the back of his neck. "I know, I know, stupid question but you're the only person I can ask that won't tell…" he let the sentence hang but Miko smirked and suggested.

"Arcee?"

Smokescreen looked at her "How did you…"

Miko smacked herself on the side of the head. "Dude, it's so obvious! You look at her the same way Jack looks at Sierra when he thinks she's not looking,"

"That obvious, huh?"

Miko nodded "Oh yeah, even Raf knows and he's not exactly into the whole 'boys-and-girls' thing yet,"

Smokescreen had no idea what she was referring to but didn't have time to dwell on in when she asked him "So how long have you had the hots for 'Miss Bad-ass Biker chick'?"

Smokescreen sighed and pulled his knees up to his chest plating. "Since we first met at the day care center we both went to when we were little,"

Miko squealed excitedly "Details, spill them!"

Smokescreen quickly recounted every attempted interaction since he first saw Arcee. "The first time I actually saw Arcee I was climbing on a play set kind of like the 'Jungle gyms' here on Earth. I couldn't stop staring at her, she looked so pretty… but I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing and slipped and fell just as she ran by with her sisters. She ended up with her arm-servo in a brace,"

Miko winced "Oh, not a good start,"

"I know. I tried to apologize but she avoided me after that, then my family moved away because our home was bombed at the beginning of the war and I never saw her again until I came here. I think you know about what happened with Jack and the Star Saber?"

She nodded and he continued "But last night, I left her some flowers made out of Cybertronian candies that Wheeljack happened to have, but when it comes to courting Cybertronian culture, or more specifically _Praxian _culture, says I couldn't sign the note and if she doesn't figure out who they're from by tonight I have to do something to catch her attention and lure her someplace private and ask her out directly,"

"Cool, so what did you need my advice for?"

Smokescreen scooped a few pebbles—although to Miko they were rocks the size of apples—that were lying around and started flicked them over the edge. "I wanted to go about this from a femme's perspective, and the only ones I know here besides her are you and June but June won't get done at work until tonight when I plan on doing this,"

Miko turned so she was sitting crossed legged and facing him "So, what's your plan so far?"

Smokescreen waved his servo towards the landscape below them. "I was going to lure her to this spot in the desert so we wouldn't be interrupted, but I still haven't figured out the best way to get her to go out there with me without her thinking it's a trap,"

Miko looked out at the patch of Nevada desert he was gesturing to and suggested "How about you say something like 'Hey, Arcee, I found something really cool in the desert, come see!',"

Smokescreen thought about it. "Huh, I guess that could work. Except for one thing, tradition also says I'm not allowed to talk to her when I lure her away until we actually get there,"

Miko slumped "Why are traditions always so weird?"

"I know, but I really want to do this right,"

Miko tapped her chin in thought until something came to her mind. "I think I got it!" she gestured for him to come closer so he leaned down and she whispered in his audio.

"Huh, why didn't I think of that? Thanks Miko," Smokescreen noticed she was starting to shiver so he picked her up in his servo "Come on, let's get you inside before you freeze," he carried her to the lift he used to get up there and rode it down with her in his servo.

When they got to the bottom and Miko was placed on the ground Arcee was already back.

Miko rubbed her arms and jogged up the steps to get to the humans' platform "Whoo, nobody go out onto the roof, it's cold up there,"

Arcee watched Miko flop onto the couch. "Why was Miko up on the roof?"

Smokescreen "Don't worry, I was with her,"

Arcee looked at him "Why were you both up on the roof?"

"Uh, nothing, just had a talk about something," Smokescreen looked away a little too quickly and Arcee eyed him suspiciously. '_Oh, sure, NOW she notices I'm acting strangely. At least try to guess why,'_

Unfortunately, Arcee turned to Miko "So, what did you two talk about?"

Knowing the girl was a terrible liar, Smokescreen casually stepped behind Arcee and sent Miko a hand signal to stop talking. Unfortunately, he mistakenly used a Cybertronian hand signal and the girl didn't understand those.

Luckily, it wasn't necessary. "Smokescreen had a question and since Jack and June weren't around and Raf wasn't old enough to know about that sort of thing I was the only one left to ask,"

Arcee looked at everyone suspiciously before letting the subject drop and going to the training room.

Smokescreen looked over at Blaster "How close was it this time?"

The Communications Officer stretched so that his spinal struts popped back into place and tight cables loosed up after being locked into place for an entire shift. "She's suspicious now but still not sure. Sorry Smokescreen, but it looks like Miko's idea is gonna be the only one ya got if she aint figured it out by tonight,"

Raf looked up innocently "Figure what out?"

Miko whispered in his ear "Smokescreen's trying to ask Arcee out but he's going by some weird Cybertronian tradition that says he can't just up and ask her, he has to leave her some sort of present and not say who it's from so she has to figure it out herself and if she doesn't figure it out by tonight he has to try to lure her someplace secret and _then _just ask her. So he needs a way to lure her there because he's not supposed to say anything until they get there,"

Raf looked at her, then at Smokescreen, then at Bumblebee who shrugged, then back at his laptop screen, grumbling "Why do grown-ups always make things so complicated?"

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That night, after the children were brought home, Smokescreen slipped out and went out into the desert to find the perfect spot. He found a patch of deep soft dirt that was about the size of a football field settled between two dunes and a butte to provide cover in case of the slim chance that a passerby might come out there at that late hour but still had a full view of the night sky.

'_Perfect' _he drove straight back to the base and went to the wash racks to make himself presentable.

He had already forewarned Jack when he was at the base after his shift at the K.O. Burger was done and asked for his permission so the boy knew what was going on and he was okay with it, he even helped Smokescreen work out some details with his plan.

With all the preparations made all he needed to do now was put his plan into action.

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Arcee was sitting in the Darby's garage, debating whether she should go into recharge or wait a little longer, when all of the sudden a pair of bright beam headlights came on just outside the garage door and music started blaring outside. She recognized the song as one from that one group that Jack sometimes listens to. What was it called? Nickel Back?

She went to the door and scanned the other side to try to figure out who was out there and, sensing a familiar energy signature, opened the garage door. Sure enough, Smokescreen's alt. mode was parked outside, his head lights dimmed as soon as the door opened and the volume on his radio got turned down somewhat but it was still audible through his open windows.

"_**Smokescreen, what are you…"**_

Smokescreen didn't say anything, he just revved his engine and rolled back a few feet and then did it again, beckoning her to follow him.

"_**You want me to follow you?"**_

Smokescreen rocked on his axles and revved his engine again as he backed completely out of the driveway and waited for her to transform and follow him down the street.

Inside the kitchen, the two human occupants of the house watched them through the window. June had been brought home by Smokescreen and was informed he was going to try to get Arcee to go somewhere with him but wouldn't say where. When she got in the house she found Jack waiting up, both to see her when she got home and to see how Smokescreen's plan worked out.

"There they go," June stepped away from the window. "I hope they don't stay out too late,"

Jack took one last look through the window curtain before letting it fall back into place. "Mom, they're both older than Jasper itself, I think they're old enough to stay out a little later than most teenagers,"

June crossed her arms and stared off into space dreamily "Well, I think it's nice those two are going to start going out… although it kind of makes you wonder what they do in that garage at night, doesn't it?"

Jack spluttered "MO-OM, I do _not _need that kind of image in my head before bed," he recollected himself "Besides, all Smokescreen's doing tonight is _asking _her, she still hasn't answered yet,"

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Arcee drove behind Smokescreen in relative silence, the mech still hadn't said a word, until they left the city limits and he turned his radio back up so she could hear it; he seemed to have the same song on repeat for some reason.

Once they came within view of the base Arcee assumed that they had been called back for a mission. '_Maybe Optimus unlocked the next set of coordinates,' _

But then Smokescreen suddenly went off road and started driving out into the desert and, again, waited for her to follow him, revving his engine and blasting that song out his speakers.

So she continued following him, although she was starting to worry now that she realized they weren't going back to the base like she originally thought. :Are you at least going to tell me where we're going?:

Still he said nothing, but Arcee noticed he was gradually picking up speed so she sped up to keep up with him until he reached a spot where the ground had gotten softer and gunned his engine and drove across.

Arcee tried to follow him, thinking there was trouble but then he started driving around in circles so she pulled up into the center of the circle and transformed.

'_What is that crazy mech doing now?'_

Smokescreen drove around her a few times, leaving deep tire tracks in the soft sand before transforming himself, singing along to that same song he had been playing the entire time but he had changed the lyrics.

"… '_**cuz you're my Poly Hex princess, you're my Iacon queen, you're the Duchess of Praxus and every city in between. You can slap me in the faceplates, you can scream profanity, leave me here to offline alone, but I'll still follow you home,"**_

Arcee gawked at him for a moment "_**Smokescreen… what's going on? You've been acting really strange lately,"**_

Smokescreen rubbed the back of his helm "_**Sorry, I was actually trying to get your attention, apparently the flowers were too subtle for you so I had to get you out here,"**_

Arcee held her servos out to gesture towards the empty desert around them. "_**Well, here I am and you have my attention. So what's this about?"**_

Smokescreen fiddled with his digits nervously, he had planned out what he had to say and even rehearsed it in his mind when he was in the wash rack earlier but now, when he needed it most, he couldn't remember a single word of it. So he decided to _ab lib_ it.

"_**Arcee I… I really like you, a lot. I have for a long time, and I was wondering…" **_he just blurted out the last part "_**You want to hang out sometime?"**_

Arcee thought about it and then it all clicked '_First the flowers… and then he lures me out here to ask if we can "hang out" sometime… Scrap, this is a courtship ritual,"_

Arcee stood there with her servos clasped over her mouth. Smokescreen thought she was just surprised and smiled at her but then he noticed coolant welling up in the corners of her optics. "_**Arcee, what's wrong?"**_

Arcee shook her helm and backed away from him "_**I-I'm sorry. I can't… I'm sorry," **_She spun around and sprinted away from him like a frightened doe, leaving him to stand there in shock, watching her go.

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Arcee ran as fast as she could, not even thinking of transforming into her alt. mode in her haste to get away. She wasn't running from Smokescreen, no, she was running from all of the ghosts from her past.

_Faster, Arcee, faster!_ A dark condescending voice taunted her in the back of her mind. _You're going to have to be faster than that_ .

Tailgate. both tried to get closer to her, just like Smokescreen was trying to do now, and both of them were killed because of her.

_It's your fault you know; you were just too slow. If you would have just kept up Tailgate wouldn't have had to wait for you and Airachnid wouldn't have caught him and offlined him right in front of you. If you had called for help sooner and got there a little faster Cliffjumper would have lived…_

Arcee clawed at the sides of her helm "_**Shut up, Shut up, SHUT UP!"**_

_What? It's true and you know it. History has a way of repeating itself._

Arcee stumbled but kept running. Of course she knew that, that was why she was pushing Smokescreen away, because she cared about him too much to see him get hurt like they were, because of her.

She didn't stop until she got back to the base and went right through the hidden door in the side of the cliff.

She heard the others asking her what was wrong but she ignored them and kept running, trying to hold back tears until she was safely in her room where she could flop face down onto her berth and cry into the memory foam padding.

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Out in the desert, Smokescreen didn't even move after she was gone until he got a comm. from Ratchet.

When he answered it he heard the medic's voice immediately start asking questions. :Smokescreen, where are you? Arcee just came back to the base and ran right to her quarters. What happened?:

Smokescreen looked around at the tire tracks the two of them had left in the sand around him before responding. :I, uh… things didn't exactly go as planned.:

Smokescreen heard Ratchet sigh on the other end of the line. :Come back to base, we'll talk more when you get here.:

Smokescreen looked around to see if anyone else was about. :I'll be back soon, I need to clean up my mess first. Smokescreen out:

He cut the line and starting rubbing their tire tracks out of the dirt with his peds; Praxian tradition also states that traces of the Courting Display ritual is only left behind if the recipient accepts the courtship.

* * *

_**AN: Ah, my feels. WHY? Oh, wait, that's explained in the chapter.**_

_**People that Reviewed/added; Jaki822,**_ _**Kaleia (Guest), SuperGirlInJeans,**_


	13. Chapter 13

Where There Is Smoke

Rated T for language and violence

Warning: OOCness with angsty!Smokescreen.

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

"_Talking on the phone or recordings"_

:comm. link:

[Texting]

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Spark feelings_

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years

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The next morning the children were taken to school as usual. Jack tried to get Arcee to talk about the night before "So, how was last night,"

Arcee answered blandly "Just went back to base, no big deal,"

Jack noticed something about her tone and tried again "I saw Smokescreen go with you, what happened?"

Arcee sighed and said in a voice that was both exasperated and pleading. "Jack… just drop it, please,"

Jack wanted to know what was bothering his guardian, wanted to try to help her, but did as she asked and was quiet until he got to school.

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After Arcee and Jack left, Smokescreen pulled into the driveway to pick up June. To her surprise, when she came outside the driver's side door opened up for her. '_Apparently he's letting me "drive" today,'_

She got in and he waited until she was buckled in before closing the door and backing out of the driveway to drive to the hospital.

As they drove, June noticed Smokescreen was really quiet that morning; he wasn't talking, the radio wasn't playing, even his engine was toned down to minimal noise.

"So, how was last night?" she didn't mean to pry but she was curious and sick of the quiet.

Smokescreen's holoform appeared in the front passenger seat and took a CD case out of his alt. mode's glove compartment while a disc was ejected from his stereo and he put it in the case and set it on the edge of her seat. "Borrowed Jack's CD last night, could you make sure he gets it for me, please,"

June looked over and had enough time to notice Smokescreen's holoform looked almost sick before it disappeared again, leaving her in silence once more until they got to the hospital.

She picked up the disc. "Okay, but why don't you hang ontoit until you see him later today?"

"Because the only time I see Jack is when _she _is around," Smokescreen opened his door to let her out.

Somehow knowing something went wrong last night and understanding why Smokescreen didn't want to see Arcee so soon afterward, June put the disc in her bag. "Okay, see you later Smokescreen,"

"Yeah, later," Smokescreen closed his door and slowly drove away, so slowly June didn't even need to call out "Drive safely" like she usually did but she did anyway out of habit before going inside.

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When Smokescreen got back to base Arcee, Bumblebee, and Bulkhead were standing in a circle talking amongst themselves while Bulkhead was trying to get Wheeljack to join in the conversation, Blaster was leaning against the wall on his break from the monitors while Ratchet had a turn on monitor duty and Optimus was at his now usual work station trying to crack the codes of the Iacon database.

They all looked up when he pulled into the base, Arcee quickly looked away when he transformed, but he ignored all of them and went to lean against the door frame of the corridor leading to the 'Bots quarters.

Bumblebee tried to be friendly and buzzed a greeting **(_Hey, Smokescreen)**_

Smokescreen didn't answer, he just flicked his doorwing to show he heard him and stared at the screen Optimus was working on as if he were trying to mentally decode the next set of coordinates himself.

Arcee sniffed "_**You sure that's Smokescreen and not Prowl?"**_

Bumblebee looked at her sadly. **(_'Cee, what happened last night? He was fine yesterday and then he went to see you and now he's…_)** he gestured towards the Praxian mech that was standing still as a statue and was just as silent.

Nothing changed until school let out for the kids and Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead went to get them.

Shortly after they left Smokescreen went to get June since it was her break and they happened to be giving their regular report to Prime that day, if everything checked out this was going to be the last one they had to do.

The others got back to the base before Smokescreen did and Miko immediately went up to Arcee and asked smarmily "So, Arcee, how was last night?"

Blaster quickly made the "be quiet" hand signal while putting a digit to his lip components to dissuade her from talking about such a touchy subject while Arcee clenched her fist and growled from frustration "Are _all _of you involved in that stunt he pulled?"

Jack looked up at her with disbelief "Stunt?"

Miko just looked up at Blaster "Why do you guys keep doing that with your hands?"

Blaster face palmed "It's a hand signal that means 'Be quiet', 'Stop talking', or just 'shut up'. Guess we keep forgettin' ya kids dunno Cybertronian signs,"

"Oh, okay," Miko looked up at Arcee "But seriously, what happened? Smokescreen was hell bent to make sure everything went perfect so he could ask you out yesterday. It was just like how Jack is when it comes to Sierra,"

Arcee put her servos on her hips and looked about the room like a mother that was trying to figure out which one of her kids made a huge mess and they blamed each other for it. "Who here knew about this?"

Everyone held up a hand or servo, even Ratchet and Optimus held a servo up without looking up from their tasks with they were now doing one handed.

They all put their hands down when Smokescreen pulled into the base with June and let her out so she could go give her report to Ratchet, since Prime was too focused on his task to take it himself, while Smokescreen went back to the doorway where he was before and lean against it stoically like he had all morning.

Miko looked up at Blaster, who had been teaching the children some basic Cybertronian hand signals since they had asked about them. "What's his problem?"

Blaster looked at Smokecreen through his peripheral vision and sighed. "He's been like that all day, hasn't said a word to anyone. Ah'm not even gettin' anythin' from him except fo' the fact he's just going to sit there and await orders unless he's needed fo' somethin',"

Finally having enough of the quiet, Wheeljack went over to the ground bridge controls. "Well, this could probably take a while, so…"

"Autobots, I have decoded the next set of coordinates,"

"Wow, that was fast," Everyone that had been sitting down jumped up and they all stood at attention, except for Smokescreen who only twitched a doorwing to show he was listening.

Optimus compared the coordinates to the map of Earth they had. "According to these coordinates, the next relic is at the bottom of the Laurentian Abyss in the Atlantic ocean,"

Bulkhead groaned "Well, that sucks. How are we supposed to get a relic at the bottom of the ocean?"

Miko piped up "You guys get to go deep sea diving, cool! Just remember to bring your floaties,"

Ratchet looked up at the map and rubbed his jaw in thought "Due to the fact that water disperses plasma charges and conducts electrical shocks the use of energy weapons would do more harm than good,"

Jack shrugged "Which means the 'Cons won't be able to shoot at you guys,"

Arcee looked at him "But we can't shoot the 'Cons either,"

Optimus nodded "By any means, if it comes down to a battle we are going to have to resort to close range combat,"

Miko shrugged "That shouldn't be too much of a problem. Prime and Wheeljack have their swords, Bulkhead has his wrecking ball, Arcee has her arm blades, Bumblebee…"

They looked at Bumblebee who took up a boxing stance and threw a few punches. "Yeah, Bumblebee can box with them. What about you, Smokescreen?"

Their attention turned towards Smokescreen who hadn't spoken or moved from his spot where he leaned against the doorway. He was quiet for moment before he answered "…knives…"

"What?"

Smokescreen looked at the others "Knives, I can throw them and I can use them to fight with,"

Miko looked at him in mock skepticism to hide her eager curiosity. "Prove it,"

He reached into a secret compartment in his arm-servos and pulled out a short and narrow knife that had a more alien design to the white and blue handle with a red point coming out of the ring on the pommel. "Pick a target,"

Bulkhead placed an empty oil barrel he found in the corner on an empty crate they had stored energon in. "Let's see if you can hit the barrel,"

_Clang!_ Suddenly the barrel was on the floor with the knife sticking out of it.

They all looked over at Smokescreen who was already twirling a second knife in between his digits.

Bulkhead smirked "Pretty good shot, bet you can't do it a second…"

_Clang!_ A second knife was thrown and embedded in the side of the barrel which rolled across the floor.

Bumblebee jumped back from where he had bent over to pick up the barrel before the second knife was thrown **(_How many of those knives do you even have?!_)**

Smokescreen shrugged and went to retrieve his knives. "A lot," he stepped on the side of the barrel and pulled them out with a firm yank before placing them back into their compartments in his arm-servos.

Jack looked over at Ratchet who was looking at Smokescreen with slight irritation and, for some reason, was that… pride?

Blaster went to get the communications console ready singing "Hi ho, hi ho, it's back to work we go" while Ratchet went to the ground bridge controls and set in the coordinates. "I can't bridge you right to the relic or the base will be flooded within seconds so I'm opening it just above the water's surface in the general area of the relic's location,"

Optimus' battle mask slid into place as he went to stand in front of the ground bridge and the others flanked him "We must get to the relic before Megatron does. Autobots, Roll out,"

The others had similar metal plates slide over their own vents and followed him through the groundbridge.

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The Autobots came out of the bridge and dropped right down into the water and sunk straight down until they touched the bottom and walked along the sea floor, going deeper and deeper beneath the ocean, until they came to the deepest trench any of them had ever seen.

Wheeljack whistled as he crouched at the edge to try to gauge just how far down it was. "_**We gotta find a relic in **__that__**?"**_

He was speaking Cybertronian but Blaster was translating the communications so the humans listening in at the base could hear. Raf looked up as much information on the Laurentian Abyss he could find on the internet. "According to the internet the Laurentian Abyss is an estimated 19,685 feet deep. That's about 3.7 miles down,"

Arcee picked up a rock and dropped it, watching it drop down out of sight "Well, good thing we have that tracker or we'd be screwed,"

"Just watch out for hydrothermal vents, the Abyss is said to have a lot of those,"

"Hydro-what?"

Jack translated "Little geysers or cracks in the rock that give off intense heat, you guys would melt like gremlins in a microwave,"

None of the bots got the reference but now they knew to stay away from the heat vents.

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After climbing several feet down, Ratchet contacted them through the comm. lines. :Optimus, I am picking up Decepticon energy signals converging on your location.:

Optimus looked around to try to see how far away from the relic's coordinates they still were. "_**They must have decoded the next set of coordinates as we had. We must get to the relic before the Decepticons do,"**_

"_**Well, so much for climbing down. LOOK OUT BELOW!" **_ Wheeljack launched himself off the rock face and dropped several feet before grabbing on to another handhold to slow his fall and doing it again.

Bulkhead watched his friend belaying further and further down. "_**Jackie, what are you doing?"**_

"_**If we keep going at this rate the 'Cons will get there first. This is much faster than regular rock climbing,"**_

Seeing the Wrecker's point, they all followed his lead, dropping down a few feet and grabbing on to slow their fall before dropping down again until they got to where the sea floor leveled out to make up the basin of the underwater valley where the relic was hidden in.

Just as they landed the ground shook. "_**Whoa, what was that?"**_

"_**Wasn't me," **_Bulkhead held up his servos in surrender.

Ratchet checked the monitor to see what was going on. "_**There's some minor seismic activity in that area, it has unearthed the Iacon locator beacon in your general area,"**_

Optimus took out the scanner he had brought with and saw the blip on the screen indicating the beacon Ratchet was referring to. "_**Understood,"**_

Following the scanner in Optimus' servo, the Autobots tread water to get to where the beacon was located.

Unfortunately, the Decepticons were able to drop straight down from their ship hovering directly above where the relic was located and got there a few minutes before the Autobots did. And since the seismic activity had already done most of the work for them a few minutes was all it took to dig up the stone vault that was buried in the rock.

And to top it all off, Megatron himself was there to crack the thing open to see what was inside.

"_**MEGATRON!"**_

Megatron turned to see the Autobots running up to him with Optimus Prime in the lead. "_**Ah, Optimus, it would seem we were on the right track after all if you and your Autobots are here,"**_

Optimus took up a defensive fighting stance. "_**Stand down, Megatron. As you have seen with the Star Saber the relic you seek here will only respond to a Prime,"**_

Megatron held up a servo "_**On the contrary, according to the lore of these specific relics they will only respond **__in the hand __**of a Prime," **_he pointedly examined the servo he held up and they all realized it wasn't _his _servo attached to him.

Optimus narrowed his optics "_**Megatron, what have you done?"**_

Megatron laughed like a mad man "_**As the lore suggests I needed the hand of a Prime to use the relics once I have acquired them. This particular one comes second **__hand __**from the late Sentinel Prime,"**_

Back at the base, Miko piped up "So that's where big and ugly has been, playing Frankenstein,"

Optimus drew the Star Saber "_**I am afraid I cannot allow you to do that," **_with a war cry he charged towards the Decepticon leader as the other Autobots dealt with the Vehicons that attacked them.

Megatron smirked and started cutting open the vault with his own sword "_**And what makes you think I need your permission, Optimus?"**_

The lid gave way to reveal a red and blue rifle of Cybertronian design just as Optimus swung the Star Saber towards Megatron's helm, making the silver mech step away from the vault in order to dodge it.

The two leaders exchanged blows in between trying to grab the gun for themselves.

All the while this was going on, the other Autobots were holding their own against the other dozen 'Cons.

Bumblebee was fighting any 'Cons that came close with various kicks, punches and combos while Bulkhead smashed anything purple that moved with his wrecking ball and Wheeljack just went to town with his swords.

Arcee had just finished off her first opponent and was looking for the next one when she saw Smokescreen fighting a 'Con with his knives; stabbing, slicing and impaling any part of them he could reach and then gutting them alive before moving on to the next one.

She didn't see any more because another 'Con engaged her, but it also distracted her from seeing a Vehicon frame being thrown above her until it caused a rockslide.

Smokescreen heard her cry out and looked over to see her leg had been caught in the pile of fallen rocks and went over to try to help her.

At that point, Megatron had gotten a hold of the gun and aimed it Optimus. He would have loved to obliterate the Prime right then but then he saw Arcee with her leg caught in the fallen debris and decided he was going to make Prime suffer first, by firing on his defenseless teammate.

"_**Given the data tracks on the Iacon hall of records I presume this is the legendary Requiem Blaster. I think it could use a test run, don't you, Optimus?"**_

Smokescreen looked up and saw who Megatron was aiming for and ran faster "_**ARCEE, LOOK OUT!" **_he kicked some of the rocks loose and knocked her out of the way just as Megatron pulled the trigger.

A white hot energy beam cut through the water and blazed right across Smokescreen's torso before hitting the rock face behind him. His optics went wide with shock and locked on Arcee's, which held the same shocked look. He couldn't even cry out as he was thrown back into a reef a few yards away with a crash that was muffled by the water and the sand cloud that exploded around him.

Arcee instantly snapped out of her trance and started screaming. '_No…' __**"SMOKESCRE-E-EN!"**_

Optimus chanced a look in the direction the shot was fired and saw it had completely destroyed the rock face that had been behind Arcee and severely injured Smokescreen as it grazed him.

Megatron chuckled darkly and rubbed the barrel of the blaster as if he were petting it. "_**Magnificant! And that was only a low powered shot through liquid. Imagine what it could do at full potential…"**_

Optimus slowly turned back to the silver mech, growling angrily, and struck with the Star Saber once more.

Megatron just smirked "_**Oh, and as long as you're here, I'll be taking that Star Saber too,"**_

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Back at the base, Ratchet clutched at his chest, feeling a pain in his spark and looked up at the screen where his teammates' life signals were displayed and saw Smokescreen's life reading had just plummeted by half. "Optimus, what is going on down there? Smokescreen's life signature just decreased by sixty percent,"

Bulkhead's voice came over the comm. link :Ratchet, this is Bulkhead. Smokescreen's been hit by the Requiem Blaster.:

"_WHAT?_" Ratchet and June screeched while all the humans went to the railing to try to hear better when Bulkhead added :Megatron got a hold of the blaster and while he and Prime were fighting over it Buckethead decided to test it out. He was aiming for Arcee but Smokescreen knocked her out of the way.:

Ratchet ran to get his emergency patch kit and activated the ground bridge "Bulkhead, I am on my way right now, try to keep him conscious until I get there." He ran through the portal and was gone.

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_Meanwhile, back at the battlefield_

Arcee wrenched her leg free and rushed to where Smokescreen was thrashing and convulsing on the ocean floor and dropped to her knees next to him.

When the dust cleared she saw that whatever armor on his chassis that wasn't blown off had melted and was still red hot, burning the mesh of his protoform beneath and boiling the water around him while he screamed silently, unable to actually make a sound through the pain.

Arcee could hear Bulkhead contacting Ratchet but she didn't pay much attention to him. Near panic, she clutched at whatever parts of Smokescreen's body that were still intact and tried to grab his servo. "_**Smokescreen. Smokescreen, I'm so sorry. I'm sorry! Dammit, you idiot, why did you do that? I'm sorry,"**_ she nearly broke down into sobs and tried to fight them down, only a few coolant tears escaped her optics and floated in the ocean as little dark globules.

"_**I'm sorry…"**_

She didn't even realize Ratchet had arrived until he pried her servos away to get a better look. "_**We need to transport him back to the med. bay for surgery,"**_ he reached into the medical kit on his back and pulled out a collapsible stretcher to set him on.

Bumblebee came over to help Ratchet lift Smokescreen onto the stretcher while Arcee slid it underneath him and Bulkhead and Wheeljack took out the rest of the 'Cons to give them some cover.

Seeing how he wouldn't be able to get the Star Saber from Optimus, Megatron ordered his remaining troops to fall back. "_**DECEPTICONS! RETURN TO THE **__NEMESIS__**, WE HAVE WHAT WE CAME FOR!"**_

The Decepticons all fled, leaving the Autobots to try to figure out how they were going to save their only casualty.

Ratchet and Wheeljack took one side of the stretcher and Bulkhead and Bumblebee took the other side while Arcee ran alongside and Optimus stayed to gather as many pieces of Smokescreen's frame as he could find as they all rushed the mech to the surface.

Ratchet contacted the base. :Blaster, we are on our way back to the base. Make sure there is nothing in the way so we can rush Smokescreen to the surgical bay and tell June to get the children out of the room.:

:Consider it done, Ratch':

Blaster disconnected from the communications console and went about making sure they had a clear path to the and went to the ground bridge controls to close the portal. "June, could ya take the kids to another room, please?"

June stared at him for a moment before nodding and ushering Miko, Jack and Raf out of the room.

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They carried the stretcher up a slope that Ratchet had found that was more like a steep ramp than a cliff side like the one they had climbed down before to the top of the rift and the others activated their vehicle modes' air bags to give them just enough buoyancy to get them close to the surface—luckily Arcee's frame was light weight enough for her to tread water to the surface with the help of her tires or she would be, well, sunk—and activated the floatation devices on the sides of the stretcher to get it to the surface.

Once there the ground bridge portal opened up just inches above the water so they lifted Smokescreen into it before climbing up themselves and letting it pull them back to base.

Once they got there, Blaster pulled a gurney out of the "_**Gurney, incoming!"**_

The mechs carrying the stretcher simply set it on the gurney which Ratchet pulled towards the med. bay. "_**Wheeljack, with me. I'm going to need some help on this one,"**_

Wheeljack hesitated "_**You sure? Even when I was still into the whole engineering thing my inventions didn't always turn out so great,"**_

Ratchet got out a small suction hose and started sucking up whatever saline solution was still in Smokescreen's frame. "_**Wheeljack, I'm going to need all the help I can get. The rest of you start taking decontamination baths so you don't rust from soaking in that wretched sea water. MOVE!"**_

As the two mechs wheeled the gurney into the med. bay they heard a surprised gasp come from the hall.

Bulkhead turned to see Miko standing there with her hands over her mouth and knew right away she had snuck back into the room and saw how bad Smokescreen was "Miko, go wait in the next room. I'll be right there, okay?"

Miko stood there until Jack came back out and looped his arms under hers and pulled her back into the hallway, but not before he saw for himself how bad Smokescreen was as he was wheeled away.

Blaster looked over at the three remaining bots in the room. "_**Where's Prahm?"**_

Bulkhead answered since Arcee was just staring at the door to the closed off part of the med. bay and Bumblebee was trying to get her to go take a decontamination bath before him and Bulkhead. "_**Optimus stayed behind to see how much of the pieces that got blasted off of Smokescreen could be salvaged for R &R, or 'rebuild and repair',"**_

Wheeljack came out then, holding a data pad and was bombarded with questions about Smokescreen's well-being. "_**The kid's going in and out, one minute he's stable and the next he needs a jump start. Ratchet's keeping all sensors on him until Optimus gets back with the pieces that got left behind. He sent me to get some energon to make medical grade for a drip and to make sure Arcee got this,"**_

Wheeljack held out the data pad to Arcee who stared at it. "_**What is it?"**_

"_**A while back Smokescreen gave this to Ratchet and said if anything ever happened to him, like if he went offline or was critically injured this was supposed to be given to you. Since he just got shot by a low power shot from a gun that can wipe out half an asteroid belt in a single shot when used at full power I think this counts,"**_

Arcee took the data pad and held it as if it were made of glass as Wheeljack went to the storage room to get the energon he was sent to get.

The other mechs were silent until Bulkhead clasped his servos together. "_**Well, if no one else is getting in I'm going to go take the first decontamination bath so Hatchet don't yell at us,"**_

Bumblebee went back to the ground bridge. **(_I'm going to go see if Optimus needs any help._)**

Blaster lingered for a moment before going back to the console to be ready in case Prime or Bumblebee needed to be bridged back, leaving Arcee alone with the data pad she now cradled like a newborn as she sat on the floor by the humans' area so that she was facing the med. bay, wanting to be close by if there was any news.

She gingerly turned the data pad on and saw the title, "_The things left unsaid. (Or the things I just never had the bearings to say in person)"_

She read further and saw this was a compilation of messages from Smokescreen himself, the first one was dated for when they first met when they were Younglings.

"_I met the prettiest femme ever to day. Well, besides my Sire. She was at the Care center playing with her sisters while I was climbing on the play set. I wanted to go say 'hi' but I was scared she wouldn't like me, so I couldn't. She was so pretty I couldn't stop looking at her, but I wasn't looking at what I was doing and I fell off the play set and fell on her. I felt so bad but the adults took her away before I could say I was sorry,"_

Arcee didn't know whether to laugh or cry. '_So that's why he fell on me,'_

She read the next few notes, most of them were more attempts at apologizing to her but he was either too shy to talk to her or she was even more shy and retreated to where her sisters or other friends were, up until the attack on Praxus and he and his family had to leave.

The next set of messages were from when he came to Earth and were dated like journal entries.

"_I just landed on a strange new planet, everything is organic here. After I landed I had to blast my way out of the escape pod because it had landed with the door underneath and got out of there before any 'Cons showed up. Turns out there are other Autobots here and get this, the femme I really liked is with them! How awesome is that? She seems different now, she's a lot more defensive and guarded now, but she is a lot stronger now and still every bit as beautiful as she was back then,"_

"_Well, been here not even a solar cycle and everyone either won't take me seriously or absolutely hates me. Except for one of the natives of this planet, his name is Jack, he seems like a pretty cool guy. Although it's kind of ironic that Arcee, of all 'Bots, is his guardian. Maybe if things work out the three of us can hang out sometime. Never mind, I think she hates me,"_

The next entry was dated for when Smokescreen had taken Jack with him to go after the Star Saber.

_"Scratch that, Arcee DEFINITELY hates me. Today I got to spend time with Jack because Optimus Prime asked him to teach me about Earth's customs and laws so I can fit in better. But when that bully, I think his designation was Vince, threw that… whatever it was at Jack and got that greasy food substance all over my driver's side window, I just snapped. It reminded me of those jerks at the Academy that thought since my brother is an officer I got off easy—which I didn't—so they had to make it harder on me to make up for it. So, I helped him get a little payback. We both had a lot of fun doing it but the others weren't impressed. Then when the scanners picked up an Iacon locator beacon and everyone else was gone I convinced Ratchet to let me go. In hindsight I admit bringing Jack wasn't the best idea, but I didn't think there was going to be that many 'Cons and I didn't want him to feel left out so I was going to have him come along and watch from a safe distance like Sire did with me and my brothers when we were little and she was out on the shooting range. PRIMUS, I WAS AN IDIOT! Not only were there more 'Cons there than I thought but Megatron himself was there. If the others hadn't gotten there when they did we both would have been scrapped. Everyone was furious at us both when we got back, like I said before Arcee hates me now. Add this to the list of things to make up to her,"_

The rest were notes taken over the course of time he was June's guardian, and a link to a file of little love notes he probably planned on giving to her at one point but never got a chance to.

The last entry was from the night before.

"_Okay, had enough beating around the bush, as the humans say. Yesterday I left some flowers I had made from sweets that I got from Wheeljack outside her door so I'm going to ask her out tonight. I asked both Miko and Jack—Miko because she's better at seeing things from a femme's perspective and Jack because he's pretty much the only _real _friend I have on Earth and he knows Arcee better—for advice and they had some great ideas. I just hope everything works out. Primus, I wasn't this nervous when Megatron held his fusion cannon to my head. Wish me luck?"_

By the time Arcee had gotten through the whole data pad she felt like such a _bitch._ The whole time she had been pushing him away to keep them both safe from the apparent curse that she had on her Smokescreen thought she absolutely hated him, yet he still tried to get close to her, still saved her…

Clutching the datapad to her chest, she curled up on the floor and cried. '_Please, Primus, I know I don't deserve him after everything I put him through, but please let him be alright,'_

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June and Raf waited in the human kitchenette until Jack came back with Miko, who was pale with a look of shock on her face.

June pulled up a chair and helped Jack sit Miko down on it. "Easy, Miko. Do you need a sick bucket?"

Miko shook her head and pulled her knees up to her chest and let her head rest on them.

Raf looked up at Jack "How was he?"

Jack knew which "he" the younger boy was talking about and sighed. "He was hurt pretty bad. His torso is split open like a baked potato that broke apart,"

June and Raf both winced in sympathy and they all settled into solemn silence until Bulkhead's holoform came in to get them.

They all looked up at him with an unspoken question on their faces which Bulkhead answered. "Wheeljack and Ratchet are still working on him. Right now they're just keeping him together until 'Bee and the Boss bot get back with the pieces that came off so they can weld them back on. You guys can come out now if you want,"

June led Jack and Raf out of the room while Bulkhead simply carried Miko in his arms until they got out to the main area where Jack saw Arcee curled up on the floor and sat down next to her while the others went up to the human's platform.

Bulkhead carried Miko up and was about to set her on the couch when she suddenly snapped awake and looked around. "Bulkhead, where's your body at?"

Bulkhead pointed to where his alt. mode was parked "Right over there,"

Miko got up and grabbed his holoform by the hand to pull him towards his real body. "Use that instead… please,"

Bulkhead complied and his holoform disappeared. Miko panicked for a moment, not knowing where he went, until Bulkhead transformed into robot mode and scooped her up in his servo. "Miko, what's wrong?"

Miko hugged his servo, the only part of him she could reach. "I'm sorry, it's just… when I saw Smokescreen on that stretcher, yeah it sucks for him but it reminded me too much of when you…"

She bit her lip and stopped talking so Bulkhead finished for her "When it was me on it?"

Miko nodded and he held her close to his chest so she could hear his spark beating. "It's okay Miko, no one else was hurt this time and Smokescreen's a tough kid, he'll pull through,"

Raf looked up at June "Didn't you need to go back to work, Mrs. Darby?"

June pulled Raf in for a one-armed hug. "I called my supervisor when Blaster asked me to get you kids out of the room and told them a family emergency came up and that I wouldn't be able to make it back in for the rest of my shift,"

"Oh, okay,"

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Optimus and Bumblebee each brought back an armful of pieces of Smokescreen's armor and Ratchet and Wheeljack worked on rebuilding Smokescreen's chassis well into the night.

After Bumblebee and Bulkhead brought Miko and Raf home, Optimus went up to where Jack and June sat with Arcee, who sat in the same spot she had been in since she read the data pad from Smokescreen; the only time she had moved was when Prime made her go take a decontamination bath after everyone else had.

They all looked up at the Prime when he knelt down next to them. "I have spoken with Ratchet; Smokescreen will recover from his injuries, however it may take time due to the fact they are reconstructing part of his body. In the meantime, it's getting rather late and I believe Jack and Nurse Darby should also be returning home,"

Arcee looked at the med. bay then down at the two humans leaning against her; torn between making sure Smokescreen was alright and seeing to both her charge and his.

Seeing her dilemma, Optimus offered an alternative "If Arcee wishes to remain here I will accompany the two of you home myself,"

Jack looked up at him "Um, Optimus, would it be alright if we stayed with Arcee tonight?"

Optimus looked at the two humans and at the blue femme in question "If she wishes you to stay I will honor that decision,"

Arcee didn't say anything or look away from the door to the med. bay, she just reached down and pulled them closer to her like a mother bird would her hatchlings.

Optimus nodded and heaved himself to his peds and walked away thinking '_If one didn't know any better, one might think those two were Bonded and Jack and June are their sparklings' _

The Prime rolled his optics at the thought and went to his office to get a written report ready in case Fowler caught wind of what happened and asked for one.

* * *

_**AN: No, SMOKESCREEN! Damn TF:Armada for putting these kinds of ideas in my head! People that reviewed; Dalek Spark, NightWhisper184,**_


	14. Chapter 14

Where There Is Smoke

Rated T for language and anything else I might have missed.

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's,

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

"_Talking on the phone or recordings"_

:comm. link:

[Texting]

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Spark feelings_

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years

* * *

At around three a.m. the next morning, Arcee had placed Jack and June on the couch in the human's area so they would be more comfortable than they would be sleeping on the floor just as Wheeljack came out and made his way towards the wash racks.

She ran up and jumped in front of him and the two of them stared at each other, not saying anything, until Wheeljack smirked half-heartedly and jerk his thumb-digit in the direction.

"_**We got him pretty much put together, right now it's a waiting game to see how long it's gonna take him to wake up. If you want to see him you're going to have to ask Ratchet, he's the one in charge of the med. bay,"**_

Arcee nodded her thanks and slipped into the med. bay to find Ratchet. She didn't see him in the main part of the med bay, just a section of it that was closed off by curtains set up around one of the med. berths, so she went to his office and carefully knocked on the door.

Ratchet answered it and looked at her like he wasn't entirely surprised she was there but more like he wished she had waited until morning.

Arcee looked up at him "_**How is he?"**_

Ratchet nodded towards the partitioned part of the med. bay "_**Stable for now, all that's left to do is let him get the adequate rest he needs and enough time to heal," **_He hesitated before adding "_**If you're quiet you may see him, just remember he's supposed to be resting so let me know if anything changes,"**_

"_**Thanks Ratchet," **_Arcee crept over to the curtain and peeked through it.

Smokescreen was lying on a med. berth so still and calm he almost seemed to be recharging if one would overlook the look of discomfort on his face plates and the fact he had several wires attached to his chest that were hooked up to a monitor displaying his vital stats and an energon drip hooked up to a medical injection port in his arm servo.

She got a stool and carried it over so that it wouldn't drag on the floor and make any noise and sat down beside the berth and grabbed his servo; if he woke up then or any time afterward he would reflexively tighten his grip around her servo, indicating we was or was becoming aware of his surroundings.

As she sat there her optics started to dim and flicker from lack of recharge. '_I guess it wouldn't hurt if I rested them a moment, would it?' _she folded her other arm-servo beneath her and rest her helm on it, closing her optic shutters.

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Sometime after that, Ratchet came into the med. bay to check on Smokescreen and frowned; Arcee was still there, sitting on her little stool and watching Smokescreen as if he was going to go offline and disappear as soon as she looked away.

"_**Arcee, you can't stay in here all the time like this,"**_

Arcee shuttered her optics "_**It's my fault he's in here. I can't…"**_

"_**Arcee, you have been in here for two joor, it is now three o'clock. The children will be getting out of school right about now and I'm sure Jack wouldn't want to have to ride with Bulkhead and Miko again,"**_

Bulkhead brought both teens to school that morning since Arcee wouldn't leave and Bumblebee brought Raf and his siblings to school because Maria had the flu and Robert had to work; basically the yellow scout was the world's smallest school bus that morning.

Arcee looked at him and back at Smokescreen "_**What if…"**_

"_**He should be waking up soon. If he does before you get back I will call you. Now go, get some energon before you go because I know damn well you haven't had any yet today,"**_

Arcee sighed in defeat and stood up, giving Smokescreen's servo a quick squeeze as she did, but froze when his servo gently squeezed back.

Ratchet wondered why she stopped and looked down at Smokescreen's servo and saw his digits twitch. "_**Smokescreen?"**_

Arcee knelt on one knee on her stool and gently stroked Smokescreen's helm. "_**Smokescreen? Come on, Smokescreen open your optics… please," **_

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He didn't know where he was or how he got there, all he knew was that his frame felt like a building had fallen on him, he was surrounded by darkness and the only sounds he could hear was the sound of a beating spark that gradually faded away to give way to muffled voices speaking above him.

At first he wanted to ignore the voices because he was tired and wanted to rest, but then he recognized one of the voices; it was _her _voice. Her voice got a little louder like she was upset then it got quieter when another voice joined in. At first he thought she was going away and worried, he wanted to hear her voice some more.

He felt something wrap around his servo and he tightened his grip to try to feel what it was. Then the voices changed, like they were calling him now rather than talking around him.

He felt someone petting his helm and heard _her _voice closer to him than the before. "_Smokescreen… Come on Smokescreen… open your optics… please…"_

Slowly, very slowly, Smokescreen activated his optics and opened their shutters. It took a moment to adjust them but when they did he looked up at Arcee and Ratchet and smiled "_**Hey, how's it going?"**_

Ratchet sighed with relief while Arcee threw her arm-servos around Smokescreen to hug him. "_**Don't you **__ever __**scare me like that again, got it?"**_

Smokescreen hissed when she hugged him a little too tightly but then froze when he realized _Arcee _was _hugging _him. He started to hug her back but she pulled away with a look of concern before he could.

"_**Sorry, did I hurt you?"**_

Smokescreen shook his helm. "_**No, you didn't," **_he tried to hug her again but she hung her helm and leaned further away.

"_**Yes, I did. It's my fault you were hurt in the first place. If I just…"**_

"_**Arcee, what happened was not your f…"**_

Ratchet interrupted their "heart-to-heart" moment then "_**If you two would save this conversation for later, I need to check Smokescreen's systems to see how the internal repairs integrated and Bumblebee just contacted me saying Jack is wondering where Arcee is,"**_

The two pulled apart and Arcee left. As soon as she was gone Ratchet scanned Smokescreen's frame and did a manual examination. "_**I take it you're going to seek her out later?"**_

"_**What makes you say that?"**_

Ratchet frowned and went to look through one of his cupboards for something. "_**I know why you saved Arcee,"**_

Smokescreen hung his helm "_**I couldn't just…"**_

Ratchet came back and put a servo on his shoulder. "_**I know, but while she may be grateful you did that but she will be too busy blaming herself for the fact you nearly become one with the Well of Allsparks because of her to show it… now hold still,"**_ he pulled out a syringe and injected something into Smokescreen's arm-servo, making him yelp.

"_**Ouch! What was that for?"**_

Ratchet took apart the syringe with practiced ease and put it in the decontaminator. "_**I just injected you with another dose of pain killers that had been infused with a dose of donor nanites to help with internal repairs. You'll feel better soon,"**_

Smokescreen rubbed the stinging part of his arm. "_**Uh, Thanks…I think. So what did I miss?"**_

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Jack walked on the sidewalk on his way to work, head hung low. He was walking to work because Arcee wouldn't leave Smokescreen and everyone else was eager to go see if he woke up yet.

Jack couldn't blame them, he was worried too. Smokescreen had become like part of the family and to see him that badly hurt from taking a hit for Arcee…

"Hey, Jack,"

Jack looked up when he heard his name, he was so lost in thought he hadn't noticed Sierra come up to walk beside him. "Oh, hey Sierra,"

Sierra looked at him with slight concern; the two had been talking more since the dance but Jack wasn't acting like himself. "You okay?"

Jack nodded "Yeah fine, just got some things on my mind,"

"Such as?"

Jack looked at her and thought about it; she really did seem like she wanted to help so he decided to leave out anything about the Autobots. "A friend of mine is in the hospital,"

Sierra gasped "Oh my gosh, I'm sorry, Jack. Who was it?"

"You remember … Simon?" he took a minute to remember Smokescreen's human alias—all of the 'Bots had human aliases now. "The guy in the white jacket that was with my cousin Sadie when she came to pick me up from the dance?'

Sierra nodded. "Yeah I remember him. What happened to him?"

"He was shot last night," Sierra gasped again but let him continue. "Sadie needed to go out of town for an errand and Simon went with her. Some idiot cornered them and pulled a gun on them, he was aiming for Sadie but Simon pushed her out of the way,"

"Whoa. Were they close?"

Jack shrugged. "They serve in the same unit. Turns out he's had this huge crush on her since they went to the same day care when they were kids and wanted to ask her out for a while, but every time he tried she thought he was toying with her and turned him down,"

"Why would she think that, is he some kind of womanizer or something?"

"No, her last two relationships didn't end well so she was a little hesitant,"

Sierra herself looked a little hesitant about her next question. "Was it one of her exes that tried to shoot them?"

Jack shook his head "No, that was just some psycho idiot that liked shooting things and wanted to see what it was like to shoot a person. Her last two relationships ended badly because both guys were killed in action, one was right in front of her,"

Sierra covered her mouth again "That must have been horrible,"

"Yeah, that's why she always seems so crabby, she still isn't over either of them. And now this happened… he'll be fine but she won't leave him,"

They heard the sound of an engine and turned to see a familiar blue motorcycle with a female rider pull up. "… until now,"

Arcee pulled up alongside them and looked at Jack. "Here you are. Sorry I was a little late picking you up, Jack,"

Jack waved her off "That's ok, Sadie. How's 'Simon'?"

Arcee noticed Sierra was with him and realized why he used the alias. "He's fine, just woke up. The reason I'm so late is because I was trying to fill him in on what he missed before I left,"

Jack perked up "He's okay?"

Arcee's holoform nodded. "Yep, just got to wait until he's well enough to be let out of the hospital and he'll be just fine. Hey, Sierra,"

Sierra smiled at her "Hey, Sadie. Glad to hear Simon is okay, Jack was just telling me about him,"

"Sadie" looked at them both then asked "Either of you need a lift?"

Jack looked at Sierra who shook her head and mumbled "I don't need one, you go ahead,", and said "I think we'll be fine, K.O. Burger is just a block away. Why don't you get back to 'Simon'?"

Arcee hesitated so Sierra looped her arm through Jack's, making the boy blush. "Don't worry, Sadie, I'll make sure he stays out of trouble,"

Arcee hesitated once more and "started" her motorcycle again. "Ok, you two be careful. My number is programed into Jack's phone so call if you need anything,"

"We will, oh, and Sadie?"

Arcee looked back at Sierra who had this look of sympathy on her face. "I don't mean to pry into your personal life but I think you should take Simon up on his offer. These days guys like that only exist in movies or are too afraid to show it and I don't think he's going to wait forever,"

Arcee smiled at her and nodded "Thanks, Sierra, that's exactly what I plan on doing,"

She turned around and drove away, leaving the two teens to continue their walk, secretly watching them from a distance through her long range scanners to make sure they actually got there before going back to the base.

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_Meanwhile, back at the base_

Bumblebee pulled in after dropping off the other Esquivel children at home so only Raf came back to base with him—despite the other children's protests about wanting to come along—to see Bulkhead and Miko standing by the ground bridge to see the other Wrecker off.

Bulkhead smiled at the yellow scout as he transformed with a sigh. "So, 'Bee, how many times did you have to say 'Don't make me reach back there!' this time?"

Bumblebee whirred **(_Three and a half!)**_

"Three and a half, huh?"

Miko looked up "Where did the half come from?"

Raf carried his lap top over to the humans area to get started on homework. "Because what would have been the fourth time turned into 'Don't make me-oh thank Primus, we're here!',"

Wheeljack waved him off "Pfft, just smack their heads into the dash with the seat. That's what I'd do,"

Bumblebee beeped and buzzed **(_We're supposed to be PROTECTING them, Wheeljack,)**_

He slumped in shame **(_…and I tried that already. Don was sitting up front and he stopped but Carlos kept teasing Raf and Izzy and he was sitting behind the driver's seat and that only tips back for enough to hit his knees and then he picks on Raf more for not "controlling his robot".)**_

Bumblebee made air quotes around what Carlos had said and Wheeljack waved his servos in a calming gesture "Whoa, calm down, Super Nanny,"

Blaster slowly stepped away from his station "What's that, 'Jack?" he still had his usual smile in place but his tone was low, like an adult that just heard a kid swear and wanted to make sure they heard right before punishing them.

Wheeljack shrugged "You heard me,"

Blaster crossed his arm-servos "_**Wheeljack, Ah used to work at a Care Center befo' the war so you'd bettuh watch the "nanny" comments,"**_

Wheeljack smirked, his usual "Wrecker style" attitude showing through. "You and what army, Mr. DJ?"

Blaster cracked his knuckles. _**"Ah heard ya got yo' aft handed to ya by Soundwave an' since he an' I got the same trainin' there aint anthin' stoppin' meh from kicking yo' butt mahself,"**_

He slowly brought out his hacking cables and held them up like tentacles. "One… two…"

Wheeljack saw what was coming and reached for the ground bridge controls like a cowboy from a western movie reaching for his gun.

"…Skip a few… _ten!" _Blaster pretended to lunge for him as the ground bridge activated and Wheeljack stepped through, giving them all a quick salute and shouting "See ya!" before disappearing into the vortex.

Blaster waited until the indicator showed the Wrecker had made it to the other side before remotely shutting it off with a flash of his optics. "He was smart to run,"

Miko looked up at him defiantly "Wreckers don't run, he was leaving anyway. What were you going to do to him anyway?"

The red-orange mech smiled mischievously "This," his cables snaked out at her, causing the girl to cry out in surprise, and gently tapped the clawed ends against her as if they were "mouthing" her sides.

Miko squirmed and tried not to laugh as she fell to the floor. "H-hey stop that! That *_snicker* _tickles,"

Blaster chuckled and resumed the tickle torture. "Give up yet?"

"Wreckers never give up!"

Blaster moved the claws to target another spot, careful not to get the spot she had cut herself. "They also don't call fo' back up, which means Bulkhead can't help ya,"

Miko looked up at her guardian, who looked ready to jump in and pluck her away from the CO, with pleading eyes but it went away when they both realized he was right. Which meant Miko was on her own.

"You're right Blaster, they don't," then Bulkhead got a look of determination on his faceplates as he stooped down. "But Miko didn't actually _call _for help, and Wreckers watch each other's backs," he scooped up the girl in his servo and held her level with his chest as he rose to full height. "And I'm not just a Wrecker, I'm also her guardian. You mess with her, you mess with me, got it?"

Blaster nodded and went back to his station to continue his work. A few minutes later Arcee pulled in at full speed, transforming and skidding across the floor in a crouched position to kill some of her momentum.

When she came to a relative stop she stood up and walked towards the med. bay "What did I miss?"

Being the one that seemed to know everything that is going on, Blaster quickly filled her in as she walked past. "Wheeljack just left, Optimus is decodin' the next set o' coordinates so we can try to get the next relic befo' the 'Cons do, Ah'm watchin' the monitors to see if the 'Cons ah gonna try anythin', Smokescreen's awake an' tryin' to get Ratchet to let him go and Ratchet's still examinin' Smokescreen,"

He quickly stuck an arm-servo out, baring her way. "Don't go in there, he's bein' _very _thorough,"

As if on cue, they heard a yelp followed by Smokescreen shouting "_**Cut it out… I'M PRETTY SURE **__THAT__** DOESN'T GO IN **__THERE__**!"**_

This was followed by a loud _CLANG_, which resulted in another yelp, and Ratchet shouting "_**HOLD STILL, YOU BIG SPARKLING, I'M ALMOST DONE!"**_

The others all looked at the section of the med. bay that was closed off from view by curtains, concerned about what Ratchet might be doing to Smokescreen but more afraid of what Ratchet might do to _them_ if they interrupted so they stayed away.

Arcee said nothing, she just walked to the lift that went to the roof of the base and stood in the exact center of the lift as it took her up top. She needed someone to talk to and only way she could talk the one bot she would talk to about something like this was up on the roof of the base.

As soon as the lift doors opened she stepped off and sent the lift back down to ground level so the metal doors could close and keep the heat in the base before going to Cliffjumper's grave and standing over it.

Arcee just stood there quietly for a moment, trying to think of what to say, before she started talking. "_**Hey, partner. Sure has been a while, hasn't it?..."**_

After talking to the pile of rocks as if it were her long dead friend, Arcee heard the lift come back up to the top and the doors covering it creak open.

She sat on the edge of the silo, leaning back to see who was coming up. Smokescreen stepped off the lift looking around and smiled when he saw Arcee. "_**Hey, thought I'd find you up here,"**_

Arcee looked out over the desert, suddenly so disgusted with herself that she couldn't even look at him as he smiled at _her_, the reason he had nearly died not even forty eight hours before.

Smokescreen just kept the smile on his face plates as he hobbled over and sat down close enough to her to leave a small space between them, hissing when his welds pulled as he sat down.

Instinctively, Arcee turned to try to steady him "_**Are you alright?"**_

Smokescreen nodded as he probed soldered lines across his chest with his digits to check for tears. "_**Yeah, I'm ok,"**_

Arcee eyed the fresh welds skeptically. "_**Should you even be out of the med. bay yet?"**_

Smokescreen smiled at her again_** "Ratchet let me go for 'good behaviour',"**_

Arcee had been in the military long enough to know what "The medic let me go on account of good behavior" was code for. "_**You snuck out, didn't you?"**_

"_**Well, what Ratchet doesn't know won't hurt him… or make him hurt anyone else," **_Smokescreen's voice dripped false guilt as he slowly looked away.

Arcee looked away too and he looked back at her. "_**What about you? Are you ok?"**_

Arcee looked at him and saw the smile had been replaced with concern; concern for _her. _"_**Seriously, you almost **__died __**because of me and you're asking if **__I __**am ok?"**_

Smokescreen frowned at this. "_**Is that what you think? That **__this…__**" **_he gestured towards the fresh welds running across his chassis like termite tunnels with both his servos. "…_**is your fault?"**_

Arcee vaulted to her peds and screeched "_**IT IS!" **_she turned to start pacing. "_**If I had just…"**_

Smokescreen grabbed her by the servo and pulled her close so he could hold her in his arm-servos, their armor clacking together as he did_** "Arcee, like I was trying to say I the med. bay, what happened wasn't your fault. Megatron was the one that tried to shoot you and I was the idiot that pushed you out of the way without jumping out of the way myself,"**_

Arcee struggled for a second but she didn't want to fight him when he was injured, and that just reminded her of _how _he got injured and the events leading up to that and, little by little, her walls came crumbling down once more and she was fighting sobs while being held in his arm-servos.

He just held her tighter and gently stroked her helm "_**Shh, it's alright,"**_

Without thinking about it or hesitating, Arcee wrapped her arm-servos around him and cried into his chest plates—careful of his welds—as he held her and whispered softly into her audio. "_**That's right, let it out…"**_

"_**I'm sorry"**_

"_**It's alright,"**_

"_**It's all my fault…"**_

"_**No it isn't"**_

"_**YES IT IS!"**_

"_**Shh…"**_

She cried herself into and out of hysterics and Smokescreen just held onto her and stroked her helm whispering assurances until her sobs died down to hiccup-laced sniffles.

Smokescreen leaned away just enough so he could see her face "_**Feel better?"**_

Arcee nodded, not wanting to pull away but feeling awkward—she had just cried herself out in the arms of a mech she had conflicted feelings for, one that she knew had a crush on her, while sitting by the grave of her dead best friend—so she slowly leaned further away until she was sitting next to Smokescreen with just one arm of his servos around her. "_**How do you do that? You always get people to just open up to you no matter what they're hiding,"**_

Smokescreen shrugged "_**Remember how I said the Elite Guard Academy was pretty much a boot camp? Well, they also had a program for tactical training. At first I thought that would be cool, but then I realized my brother Prowl was head of the tactics department…"**_

"_**Prowl, as in the Autobot Second in Command and Head Tactitian? **__He'__**s your brother?"**_

Smokescreen looked at her sadly "_**Yeah, the **__amazing __**Prowl is my big brother. Are you going to rub it in too?"**_

Arcee remembered from the data pad he had given her that a few entries mentioned him catching a lot of grief because of his brother's standing and now she knew the reason he was always trying to be center of attention was because he had a lot to live up to. "_**No, I was just asking. You were saying?"**_

Smokescreen nodded and continued "_**Well, as you can imagine I didn't want to be stuck working with him all the time so I applied for a different branch of tactical training; Diversionary Tactics, because I'm good at distracting people," **_he tucked his thumb-digits against the side of his helm and wiggled his other digits like he was making a face at her.

She didn't see a _second _Smokescreen appear and sneak up behind her to cover her optics. "_**Guess who,"**_

Arcee yelped and pried the servos off to turn and face the other "Smokescreen" in time for the two of them to share a laugh as the one that just snuck up of her disappeared. "_**Oh right, holograms,"**_

Smokescreen nodded "_**Anyway, part of the training that went with that included some psychology courses, and since I had already planned on being a psychologist before the war broke out I had already did a lot of research on it so, in addition to my training as a soldier, I have enough training to be a licensed psychologist… without the actual license,"**_

Arcee gave him an amused smirk out of the corner of her optic "_**So you're a shrink?"**_

Smokescreen pretended to be irritated "_**I am not a **__shrink __**I am a **__psychologist__**. There is a difference,"**_ he playfully poked her in the side for good measure.

To Arcee's chagrin, the digit he poked her with came in contact with a few of the sensitive sensor nodes that lined the seams on the side of her chassis, causing her to squirm and stifle an involuntary giggle.

Unfortunately, this did not escape Smokescreen's notice. "_**Arcee, are you… **__ticklish__**?" **_he got a devious smirk as he slowly reached towards her again.

Arcee immediately sensed his intent and leaned away. "_**Uh, we should head back," **_

The two of them got up and dusted themselves off as they went over to the lift and rode it down to ground level.

On the way down, the devilish grin found its way back onto Smokescreen's faceplate "_**So, are you ticklish here?" **_he touched another spot on her side seam, causing her to wrap her arm servos around herself and try to scoot away from him.

"_**N-No…"**_she was trying her best not to laugh, to let him get to her, but he didn't give up.

"_**No? How about here?" **_ He dug his digits into her sides, using a move humans called "jumper cables" and vibrated his servos until she let a shriek of laughter slip out before releasing her to let her recalibrate her systems.

Arcee saw the lift had come to a stop and moved to the door so she could slip out as soon as there was enough room for her to slip through.

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Ratchet had received a call from June asking him to bridge Jack to the base and after the concerned mother explained the situation he obliged her and stood by the open portal to wait for the teen to step out cradling his hand to his chest before scooping him up and carrying him to the med. bay and scanning him. "Alright, now what exactly happened? Nurse Darby gave me the gist of it but she wasn't very specific,"

Jack looked down, trying to figure out how he was going to explain what happened, when the lift doors opened and Arcee leapt out like a trapped cougar let out of a cage. "_**Smokescreen, knock it off!"**_

Smokescreen stepped off and chased after her as fast as he could without jostling his welds, servos reaching out to try to catch her. "SHE'S TICKLISH, GET HER!"

The others just watched as the two of them chased each other long enough to realize Ratchet was in his holoform and unraveling a bandage that was wrapped around Jack's hand for a better look as the boy hissed and grimaced with discomfort.

Arcee immediately went over to her charge and, when Ratchet finally got bandage off, saw the skin on that hand was red and peeling with a few blisters. "Jack what happened?"

Jack tried to reassure everyone as Ratchet got some fresh burn salve out of the medical kit they had for humans, grumbling about how the salve that was already on his hand might as well have been craft glue for all the good it would do. "Hey, don't worry about it, I just burnt my hand on the fryer at work. It will heal,"

Ratchet tsked "He's right about one thing, these are second degree burns that will take about 2 or 3 weeks to fully heal, but didn't your mother say the grease from those fryers spilt on you?"

Arcee crossed her arms and gave Jack her signature glare "Jackson Darby, what aren't you telling us?"

Jack sighed and told them the rest of the story. "I was working the drive through and one of the other guys asked me to check the fries in one of the fryers to see if they were done since he was at the counter and the other guy was flipping the burgers and the manager was in his office taking a call from a worker that was supposed to come in later that was calling in. There wasn't anyone in the lane right then so I did.

"While I was turned around someone pulled up and threw an old to-go bag in through the window and yelled that "the food sucked anyway so this is an improvement". I think there was an old shoe in it or something, I didn't really get to see because the hot oil from the fryer splattered on my hand. The other guys fished the bag out and replaced what was in that fryer while I rinsed my hand under cold water. The manager called the hospital, mom found out and came and took me to a clinic where they wrapped my hand and since she didn't want to leave me at home alone and I didn't want to make her miss any more work than she had to she called Ratchet, and here I am,"

Miko smiled at him "Look on the bright side, you got off work early today,"

Jack frowned "Yeah, but I still have to go to work tomorrow, Boss said so"

Smokescreen snorted "Wow, your boss really is a jerk,"

"Actually, it's so I can make up for all the time I lost because of all of the 'family emergencies' I've been having lately," Jack looked up at Smokescreen "So how are you feeling, Smokescreen?"

Smokescreen smiled and shrugged "A little sore in some spots, But I'll live,"

"That's good,"

When Ratchet finished he turned off his holoform and put everything away. "At this point I think the only one I haven't had as a patient yet is Nurse Darby. Maybe I should just give her a physical and get it over with…"

_Brr-eeet! Brr-eeet! _The alarm sounded and they all gathered around the main computer as Ratchet turned off the alarm and checked the monitor to see what set it off. His optics widened "_**By the Allspark…**_ it's definitely a Decepticon signal. It's airborne and judging by the size of it that can only be one thing,"

"The _Nemesis_,"

Jack glared up at the large blip on the screen as he went over to where Miko and Raf were standing. "Why is it we can see them now but we couldn't before?"

Ratchet checked the scanners again while Blaster tapped into a few satellites to try to get a visual. "Can't get a visual on 'em, it's like they want us to know where they are but they don't want us to actually be able to see 'em,"

Then the blip flickered and disappeared. "Scrap, lost it,"

Ratchet typed a few commands on the console to try to pin point where the signal was detected only to have it reappear in another spot. "There it is again,"

Optimus looked up at the screen "They seem to be heading towards the group of islands that make up the United Kingdom," he turned to Ratchet and Blaster "See if you can pin point their location, if not their possible destination. I will try to decode the next set of coordinates, if that is what they are after, we cannot let Megatron acquire the Skyboom Shield as well as the Requiem Blaster,"

They all nodded as the three of them set to their tasks and Smokescreen added solemnly "That would be two thirds of the Hydra Cannon and if Megatron gets a hold of the whole thing he could destroy Earth's entire solar system within a few hours,"

_Clang!_

"Ow!" Smokescreen rubbed his helm where a wrench that had been thrown at him hit him.

Ratchet hadn't even looked up when he whipped out the wrench and threw it over his shoulder and now he was pointing towards the med. bay "Smokescreen, get your aft back in that med. bay. I didn't say you could leave yet,"

Smokescreen pouted and marched back into the med. bay and sat down on one of the berths like a kid that got sent to their room for misbehaving.

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In the gloom of the med. bay on the _Nemesis _, a lone red mech worked diligently on a project he had been working on for months.

He welded the last few pieces of the frame together and checked the vital stats of the body he was artificially keeping alive while the welds cooled before turning to the stasis pod he kept in the corner of the room and placed his clawed servo on the lid. "_**Well, it took longer than I thought but it's finally ready for you," **_

Knockout wheeled the container closer to the berth the frame was on and opened the lid of the stasis pod with an eerie hiss and reached in and pulled out a spark chamber that was hooked up to wires attached to the pod.

One by one he disconnected the wires and replaced them with tubes that stemmed from the frame until it was free of the pod and only one connection remained as the spark chamber was carefully lowered into its housing until it clicked into place and the frame jolted from a surge of energy that coursed through it.

Knockout quickly shut off the life supports as the newly rebuilt mech on the slab rebooted.

"_**Huh… what…" **_

Amber optics lit up and looked up at Knockout dimly as the Decepticon medic smirked down at him "_**Welcome back to the land of the living,"**_

The mech's optics flashed in recognition "_**Knockout… what happened?"**_ then the mech noticed something "_**Hey, I can see out of both optics now!"**_

Knockout held the bigger mech down as he tried to sit up, which wasn't too hard considering the mech was still pretty weak from his ordeal. "_**Yeah, about that. We went back to the warehouse those little cretins from M.E.C.H. used as a hideout; luckily they kept both your lost optic and your spark chamber, which was miraculously still active, in the same place,"**_

The mech raised his optic ridges at his partner in confusion so Knockout just sighed and rested a servo on his shoulder "_**I'll explain later. In the meantime, get some rest. Lord Megatron wants you back in fighting shape as soon as possible,"**_

After a moment's hesitation, the blue mech nodded "_**Fine," **_he lay back against the berth and powered down "_**Thanks, Red,"**_

After making sure his patient was recharging, Knockout grabbed a bin that was covered by a cloth and carried it down to the chamber where the ship's furnace was located. Once there he opened the door in the side of the incinerator and uncovered the bin.

Shaking the bin to get a better look at the messy heap of mangled human body parts inside he held it closer to the fire.

"_Brennen in der Hölle__(1.)__, _Silas," he dumped the mad man's remains into the inferno and closed the door and left before the smell clung to his pristine frame.

* * *

_**Translations:**_

_**1. German for "Burn in Hell"**_

_**AN: Thanks everyone for sticking with my story for so long and a quick shout out to the people that reviewed and/or added; Kahryez, NightWhisper184, Dalek Spark, Kaleia (Guest), star's dreams, ChocolatePrime, Speedstreak360.**_

_**And for those of you that are new to this story, welcome to the club!**_

_**Hugs and Mugs,**_

_**Lady Quickshift**_


	15. Chapter 15

Where There Is Smoke

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

"_Talking on the phone or recordings"_

:comm. link:

[Texting]

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

_Spark feelings_

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years

Disclaimer: I own nothing except my OC's, I have no idea what Vince's last name is so I just picked one at random, if anyone knows what it is let me know and I'll change it.

* * *

As the next few days went by everyone spent their time getting ready for the imminent battle to come; Ratchet and Blaster tried to figure out where said battle was going to be, Optimus tried to decode the next coordinates to see if they were in the direction the 'Cons seemed to be heading and the other bots trained to make sure they were ready to fight at a moment's notice while the humans watched the conspiracy sites for 'Con sightings.

Two days after they first detected the signal, Smokescreen was cleared from medical leave and immediately texted June at work to let her know he was going to be the one to pick her up that night.

June texted back a few minutes later [Glad to hear you're feeling better. I get off at 10 tonight, see you then.]

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That night, June got off of work and went out into the parking lot to check if Smokescreen was out there.

When he wasn't she called him to ask where he was and he answered on the second ring :Hey, June.:

June tapped on the back of her cell phone with her finger "Hey, Smokescreen, everything okay?"

:Yeah, sorry I'm a little late, I'll be right there. Been stuck at this stupid stoplight for the past ten minutes.:

June tried not to laugh, the only stoplight in town tended to freeze up at night and stay in one position for longer than usual. "Alright, drive safely,"

:Don't worry, I will. If you get cold wait inside until I get there.:

She hung up the phone and was about to take his advice and go inside when she spotted a couple of men wearing dark hoodies standing on the edge of the parking lot that kept glancing her way.

Feeling uneasy, she made her way towards the hospital entrance only to have the guys follow her. While every instinct told her to run, she knew that if she did they might chase her. It wouldn't have done her much good anyway because two more stepped out from behind the cars parked closer to the entrance blocking her way.

The gang members swaggered up to her, one of them wolf-whistled which prompted the others to start cat calling and taunting her.

"Hey, pretty lady, how's it going?"

"Whatcha doing out here by your lonesome?"

When she tried to rush past them one of them grabbed her by the arm "Hey, what's the rush?"

Now June could smell alcohol on them and started to struggle, having a pretty good idea what they had in mind for her. "Let go of me!"

The men just laughed. "Ah, don't be like that,"

"We just want to have a little _fun,_"

Another one grabbed her by her other arm, one of the ones that had come from the edge of the lot watched with a sadistic smile on his face while the fourth one started to touch her intimately while they dragged her away.

June struggled more and started to scream. "No, please no… HELP!"

Just then, a white car pulled into the lot and sped towards them, whipping around them to cut off any possible escape, clipping one of the punks holding June as it went.

Smokescreen fishtailed to a stop and activated his holoform to make it look like it just exited his alt. mode before going over and punching out the other guy that held onto June before pulling her behind him. "Get in the car, Now,"

His tone left no room for argument and June didn't give him one as she went over to the passenger side and got in the front seat.

Which left Smokescreen to deal with the four punks, who didn't seem very happy. The one that had tried to feel her up, he seemed to be the "ring leader" of the little group, swaggered up to him and shouted "What the fuck's your problem? You could have hurt somebody!"

The one he had just punched stood up, holding his nose. "I'm gonna bust your head for that!"

Smokescreen ran a scan and found every last one of these gang bangers was drunk and smiled while he spoke to June through his radio. "_June, keep your hands at your sides and stay really still, okay?"_

June hesitated before doing as he asked as he transformed around her, causing her to cry out from surprise while he transformed into robot mode and stood in the tree line that surrounded the premises.

The street punks looked up at the very pissed off giant robot looming over them and trembled in fear as he slowly leaned down intimidatingly. One of them pulled out a camera phone so he transformed his servo into a blaster.

"Ah ah ah, get a shot of me with that and I'll have to shoot you with this. And don't think calling the authorities will do any good because my scanners tell me you're all drunk and I'll be long gone before they get here so no one will believe you,"

The one that had stood off to the side before quickly put his phone away and held up his hands in surrender "Hey man, we don't want any trouble. We were just having some fun with our… our friend, yeah,"

Smokescreen narrowed his optics at them before smiling at them "Oh, she's your friend? I'm sorry, I didn't know,"

The punks breathed a sigh of relief thinking he bought it. '_Stupid robot'_

"What's her name?" The punks looked at each other worriedly, they _didn't _know their "friend's" name and Smokescreen knew it. One of them looked like he did know it but was too drunk to remember it.

Smokescreen sneered and leaned down so his faceplates were inches away from them and growled. "Walk away. This woman is under _my _protection and if I _ever _catch you harassing her again… well, like I said before, the authorities won't do you guys any good. Are we clear?"

The four of them nodded while the two he had hit picked themselves up off the ground. "Good, now SCRAM!" he powered up his blaster like he was about to fire as the punks ran away screaming.

Once they were gone, Smokescreen snorted and transformed into vehicle mode, leaving a very pale June sitting in the passenger's seat. She jumped when he spoke to her through the radio "June, you alright?"

June was quiet for a moment as she tried to get her heart rate to settle into a more healthy rhythm before answering "I-I think so…"

Smokescreen activated his holoform in the driver's seat and took off his jacket and gave it to her to keep warm with before pulling out of the parking lot and driving away.

June looked down at the jacket placed over her like a blanket, then looked over at his holoform and saw he was wearing a sleeveless blue shirt underneath it and could see the bandages wrapped around his torso peeking out from under it as he moved. "Aren't you cold?"

Smokescreen smiled at her and shook his head. "No, our holoforms only feel cold when our real bodies do and you need the jacket more than I do. Want me to turn up the heater at all?"

June shrunk down into the seat to make herself seem smaller. "No, thank you,"

Smokescreen didn't say anything, he just adjusted her seat and interior temperature to make her more comfortable as he drove.

As he came to the stoplight that had kept him from getting to her in time, Smokescreen spoke up cautiously "Do you want to go straight home or should I take you back to base so Ratchet came check you over?"

June shivered and pulled his holoform's jacket around her more. "I-If it's all the same to you, I just want to get home,"

Smokescreen quickly looked up the symptoms for shock on the internet, knowing that was the human equivalant for stasis lock, and scanned her to see if she had any. She was still pale and her body temperature was a little low for his liking but that could have been due to the dropping evening temperature so he didn't question her.

He also knew pushing someone under possible emotional distress did more harm than good. "Alright, but if you go into shock or anything I'm not taking 'no' for an answer,"

June nodded and leaned back against the seat, not even noticing the radio was turned down slightly when Smokescreen activated his comm. link to silently contact Ratchet. :Um, Ratchet, remember how you said June was the only one you didn't have as a patient yet?:

Ratchet seemed to know something was up by his tone because he snapped :Oh Primus above and below, Smokescreen, what did you do to her?:

Smokescreen was quick to defend himself :Hey, I didn't do anything… except save her from some punks that were trying to rough her up in the parking lot.:

Ratchet's tone turned from snappish to professional concern :Is she alright?:

Smokescreen ran another scan of her and sent the results to Ratchet :She said she's alright and just wants to go home, but if she goes into shock or something you think you could…:

:Bring her home for now, but watch her closely. If she takes a turn for the worse at any time tonight or tomorrow don't ask just bring her here.:

Smokescreen would have smiled if he was in robot mode and it wouldn't do for his holoform to smile in such a serious situation :Thanks Ratchet.:

The medic grumbled about needing to recharge while he could get some before cutting the connection.

On the way back to the Darby's, Smokescreen kept trying to keep a conversation going with June to keep her talking and, more importantly, keep her awake.

When they got back Smokescreen saw they had beat Arcee and Jack home. He frowned slightly as he called Jack's cell phone while he parked on the curb to leave the garage open in case Ratchet decided to bridge himself into it sometime in the night and he helped June inside.

"_Hello?"_ Obviously Jack hadn't checked caller I.D. before he answered because he sounded like he didn't know who was calling.

:Hey, Jack. It's Smokescreen, just brought June home… how soon can you get here?: he could hear the sound of a motorcycle engine and the sound of muffled voices in the back ground as Jack talked to Arcee.

"_Oh, hey, Smokescreen. We'll be there soon, we kind of stayed at the base longer than we thought,"_

Smokescreen kept one hand on June's back while she shakily unlocked the door and helped her inside and sat her down on the couch. :No, I don't think you understand. You need to get home _now.:_

Jack could tell by his tone something was up. "_Smokescreen, what happened?"_

Smokescreen sighed :I'll explain when you guys get here, just get here… please?:

Jack sounded uneasy when he said "_Okay, we're just down the street now, we'll be right there," _then he hung up.

Smokescreen cautiously sat down on the couch next to June and tried to make eye contact without getting in her face. "June, Are you sure you're alright?"

June nodded stiffly but didn't say anything so he tried again "You need anything?"

"Where's Jack?"

Smokescreen nodded, glad he got some response from her and understanding why she would want Jack. "Just called Jack, he and Arcee will be here any second. Anything I can do for you in the meantime?"

June started to shake her head but suddenly felt sick. Smokescreen noticed her gagging and went over to grab a mixing bowl that sat on the counter and set it in her lap in case she needed it. "Easy…"

Unable to hold back anymore, June heaved her dinner into the bowl. Smokescreen caught her ponytail as it flopped over her shoulder and held her hair back. "That's right, let it out,"

June vomited until there was nothing left and dry heaved a few times before putting the bowl on the floor and curling up against the arm rest of the couch.

Smokescreen stroked her hair, careful not to touch her anywhere those men had. "June, look at me, June,"

June looked up at him and he searched her eyes for any sign that something was wrong. "You're safe now, you know that, right?"

June smiled at him, it looked forced but not a fake kind of forced; more like she was still pretty upset but glad he was there and didn't want him to worry. "I know… thanks Smokescreen,"

They both looked up when they heard a motorcycle engine in the driveway and Smokescreen went to the window faster than an actual human could move. "They're home,"

While he was up he grabbed a glass from the sink and rinsed it out before filling it half full with water so she could have a drink and rinse her mouth out.

He had just handed her the glass when Jack came bursting through the door to the garage and saw his mom on the couch. "Mom, are you okay?"

June nodded "Yes Jack, I'm fine," She took a shaky sip of her water while Jack sat down and put an arm around her while Smokescreen leaned against the wall with his arms crossed and Arcee's holoform came into the room and shut the garage door behind her.

The blue haired holoform crossed her arms over her chest "Alright, what happened?"

Smokescreen looked at June to see if she would rather explain, when she said nothing he told his side of the story. "I was a few minutes late picking up June because I got held up at a stop light. When I got there some guys were trying to drag June away so I stepped in and drove them off,"

Jack pulled his mom into a hug before looking up at Smokescreen "What do you mean some guys were trying to drag her away?"

"Four drunk human males, I'm not calling them men because real men don't do stupid scrap like that, cornered June in the parking lot. When I got there two of them had her by the arms and one of them stood off to the side while the fourth one started touching her while they dragged her away,"

Arcee narrowed her eyes at Smokescreen "When you say you drove them off, what exactly did you do?"

Smokescreen counted off on his fingers "I pulled up, saw what was going on, drove up to them and circled around so one of the guys holding her let go, use my holoform to punch out the other one and told her to get in my V-mode. She did and they got torqued off. When I scanned them it turned out they were all drunk so I transformed and…"

Arcee held up her hands "Whoa, whoa, whoa, they _saw _you? In _ROBOT MODE?_"

Smokescreen also held up his hands to calm her down. "Calm down, like I said they were all drunk and since no one else saw me no one is going to believe them if they do tell anyone and I made sure they knew that,"

Arcee started to raise her voice. "What if _they_ don't believe _you_ and start spreading rumors around? People that start rumors don't care if what they say is true or not they just want something to gossip about and if word about "Giant robots in Jasper" gets around enough someone will eventually post it on the internet, where the 'Cons are bound to find it and…"

"Please… don't fight…" The two bots stopped their argument-waiting-to-happen and looked at June, who was staring into her glass.

"Sorry June," Smokescreen leaned against the wall again while Arcee crossed her arms again after she had thrown them up into the air to chastise Smokescreen. "Did either of you recognize any of them?"

Smokescreen shook his head. "No, they all had hoods up, but I memorized their heights, builds and speech patterns so I'll know them if I seem them again,"

"One of them was Gary Mitchell,"

They all looked at June, Jack raised his eyebrows "Vince's dad?"

June nodded "I didn't see his face but I recognized his voice,"

Smokescreen growled as he crossed his arms and dug his fingers into his elbows "That whole family seems to be making their way onto my list of people that need an aft whooping…"

Arcee grabbed him by the shoulder "Don't," he looked at her hand and then at her but said nothing so she continued "Don't do anything stupid, if Optimus finds out you were in robot mode in public you be in deep scrap and the whole 'you're drunk so no one will believe you' bit will only work for so long,"

Smokescreen smiled and held up his hands in defeat. "Alright, alright, you win this time," he looked at Jack and June "It's late, we should all get some rest,"

Jack smiled at Smokescreen and teased "Who died and made you the nanny?"

Smokescreen smirked and pretended to scold him. "Just because you don't have school tomorrow doesn't mean you can stay up all night… leave that for the next sleep over at the base,"

Smokescreen and Arcee shooed their charges off to bed before turning in themselves; although the two Autobots left their sensors on in recharge in the event something happened in the night.

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The next morning, Smokescreen called the hospital for June saying that he was a friend of the family and explained what happened—leaving out certain parts, of course—and that she was staying home so he and his dad, who was in town and a doctor, could keep an eye on her in case of post-traumatic stress. The nurse on the phone said she would let the supervisor know and sent June her well wishes. Smokescreen thanked her before hanging up just as June came downstairs, ready for work.

"Morning June, sleep well?"

June eyed him suspiciously, she had a sinking suspicion he had been watching her through his scanners throughout the night but didn't say anything, knowing he meant well. "Morning Smokescreen, ready to go?"

"Ready when you are," he made sure June had some breakfast before they left and she and the holoform got into his alt. mode and drove away.

At first June thought he was taking her to work, just like always; she was pretty nervous about going back to the scene of the incident but she knew she had to do it. But then Smokescreen turned down a different road, now June was _really _nervous. "Uh, Smokescreen, where are we going?"

Smokescreen looked like he just got caught doing something wrong. "Ratchet wants to examine you and since he was going to give you a physical one of these days anyway now would be a good time to do it,"

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It was Sunday so the other children were also arriving at the base when Smokescreen pulled in and let June out.

Jack was surprised to see his mother there. "Hey mom, you're not usually here until later, is everything alright?"

June crossed her arms "Everything is fine, Jack. But it looks like I'm going to be spending the day here with the rest of you because _someone _called in to work for me and said I wasn't going to be there for personal reasons," she gave Smokescreen a look to indicate which "someone" she was referring to.

Smokescreen rubbed the back of his neck "Sorry, June, but better safe than sorry,"

Ratchet came out and immediately scanned June for anything amiss before pointing into the med. bay "Alright, get in there,"

June obediently walked into the med. bay and sat on the gurney while Smokescreen followed and stood off to the side so he could see what was going on but was out of the way.

Ratchet knelt down in front of his human patient so he would seem less intimidating "Now, June, I'm going to need you to tell me exactly what happened last night to the best of your ability, alright?"

June nodded "Okay,"

Smokescreen smiled reassuringly "Don't be nervous, you happen to be with the best medic from Cybertron _and _a trained psychologist so you're in good servos,"

June looked up at Ratchet "Ratchet, you're a psychologist too?"

Smokescreen facepalmed with a soft clank "No, I am,"

June looked up at her guardian "Oh, I didn't know that,"

Smokescreen smiled "Well, now you do. So… anything you want to share with us?"

June bit her lip and recounted what happened the night before while Ratchet ran multiple scans of her and then did a manual examination of her arms and body, leaving out the part where Smokescreen transformed so he wouldn't get into trouble since no one saw him so there really was no real harm done.

Unfortunately, Smokescreen saw what she was doing and sighed. "June, I know what you're trying to do, but we need you to tell the _whole _truth,"

So June retold the part about how Smokescreen chased off the thugs and Ratchet suddenly fumed "_**YOU WHAT?"**_

"Found it!" Fortunately for Smokescreen, Blaster had called out from his spot by the console and everyone gathered around. "They're over a small island near Scotland,"

Ratchet narrowed his optics at the tiny island that seemed too small to be of any real significance. "Why there? There doesn't seem to be anything that could be of use to Megatron there and if the next relic was there he would have already excavated it and left by now,"

Optimus nodded "It may not make sense but Megatron has always had a method to his madness,"

Arcee stood with one servo on her hip "And those methods usually spell out 'Trap'. So, what would a mech that's constantly trying to get attention be thinking while parked over some island, Smokescreen?"

Jack thought that was a shot at how Smokescreen had been acting in the past "Arcee, I thought you…"

"I know what I said, and I was just asking a question," she looked over at Smokescreen pointedly "And if what Smokescreen told me a few days ago was true he has had training in Diversionary Tactics so if any of this is meant to draw us out that should be right up his alley. So, what are your thoughts?"

They all looked at the two bots strangely, just as Smokescreen looked at Arcee, surprised she would ask for his opinion on something like this.

Trying to remember everything he had learned in the Academy that didn't involve "Okay, here's a weapon, those are the ones we want you to fight. Go crazy, and for Primus sake don't get killed", Smokescreen tried to analyze the situation as best he could with whatever information he had.

"Hmm, I think you guys are right about them trying to draw us out. See how they are remaining in one place like that while sending signals to let us know where they are? It's like they're waiting for us,"

Ratchet looked at Smokescreen like he sort of saw how that might work but then looked up at the monitor and zoomed in on the small island. "But why there?"

"Well, for one thing they're over an island and since the only way any of us are able to fly is if one—maybe two—of us rides with Wheeljack in the _Jackhammer _that leaves us with limited options of getting there,"

Raf looked up at the image on the screen "You guys would have to either ground bridge or swim there,"

"Exactly, and since that's a small island either of those options could end up with us getting gunned down where we stand, and if we ground bridge they could detect the energy flare and shoot us down as we step out and possibly slip through the ground bridge and storm the base,"

Jack went over to where Raf and Miko were standing "Kind of like D-Day in World War two. Thing is that island is inhabited and since Megatron knows you guys wouldn't put innocent lives at risk he could hold that whole island hostage if he wanted,"

Optimus just stared at the monitor gravely "Megatron tried the same ploy when he invaded Poly Hex. We must ensure that island does not meet the same fate as it did. Autobots, prepare to roll out!"

Arcee looked at all the mechs that were congregating towards the ground bridge. "Should we call Wheeljack? If we're going to be storming the enemy warship we're going to need all the help we can get,"

Optimus nodded and turned to Blaster "Blaster, I recall you saying you knew of an Autobot designated Tracks that was on Earth. Is there any way we can request his aide as well?"

Blaster nodded "Yeah, he should be off duty in D.C. anyway 'cause we usually meet up to look fo' energon around this time," Blaster quickly contacted his friend's comm. frequency.

After a few minutes they all heard a New York accent come from the console :Hello, you have reached Travis Acks-Laster. Please leave a message after the…:

Blaster cut him off in a playful tone "Cut the crap, Tracks, Ah know ya can hear meh!"

The voice's tone changed from a monotone meant to imitate an answering machine to a slightly haughty friendly tone. :Ah, Blaster, To what do I owe this call?:

Blaster smiled "Oh, not much… Just sitting here with Optimus Prime an' his team,"

:No, seriously, where the hell are you? I've been at our usual meeting place for over an hour and you're normally here before I am.:

Optimus stood before the main console and spoke with the same tone he used with Agent Fowler. "Autobot Tracks, I presume? Your reputation among the ranks before the Exodus was rather… memorable,"

:Oh, so you _did _find Prime, I thought you were pulling my stabilizing servo. Good to hear from you, sir.:

Optimus smiled "Likewise. Would you happen to be in a secluded area, by chance? We wish to transport you to base if you would give us your coordinates,"

Tracks harrumphed on the other end of the line :Blaster should know, we've been meeting in the same place every month for a couple of years now.:

Optimus looked at Blaster for clarification and the red-orange mech nodded. "Very well, we will send a ground bridge to your location as soon as possible,"

:Thank you, sir. Tracks out.:

Ratchet looked at Blaster impatiently. "Well?"

"Already on it," Blaster entered the coordinates into the computer so Ratchet could plug them into the ground bridge before hailing Wheeljack's comm. frequency "Omega outpost to Wheelack. Come in Wheeljack."

Nothing happened so he tried again "Omega Outpost to Wheeljack, can ya hear meh mech?"

Smokescreen noticed the blinking red light on the corner of the screen that showed the recipient of the call had already answered. '_I remember that trick…' _he raised his voice so he could be heard over the comm. "Hey Wheeljack, we're going to go storm the enemy stronghold, want to come with?"

Suddenly the image of Wheeljack's face appeared on the monitor "I'll be right there, don't start without me,"

Blaster sent him the rendezvous coordinates Ratchet was going to bridge the others to. Once the call cut off Ratchet looked at the young Praxian "How did you…"

"Do you have any idea how old that trick is? He just answered the call but kept the visual feed on his end turned off and was really quiet so he could see and hear what's going on over here and hang up if he doesn't want to talk," Smokescreen added over the Bond (He used to do that when Sire let him and Perceptor sparkling-sit us and you called from work to check on us.)

Ratchet growled "That… that…" he couldn't think of the word he was looking for and looked over at Miko "What was it you called your math teacher the other day?"

Miko thought about it for a moment "Asshat?"

"Thank you. THAT ASSHAT! Not sure what it means but I really don't care right now,"

Just then, the ground bridge was activated and a dark blue _Mercedes Guardian_ rolled into the base and parked just next to the Autobot insignia on the floor.

Miko ran to the railing around the human's platform and looked at the sleek sports car excitedly. "Whoa, is that the new bot?" she ran down the steps for a closer look.

Suddenly the car transformed into a mech with little red and white winglets on his back, red faceplates and silver accents on his helm and body. "Freeze!" he pulled a pistol and pointed it at Miko, causing the girl scream and fall backwards as she back pedaled away from the weapon.

"Hey, watch where you point that thing!"

"_**TRACKS, STAND DOWN!" **_

Tracks pulled back his weapon so that it was pointed up towards the ceiling but still at the ready and looked at Optimus. "_**Sir, were you aware there were human civilians in the base?"**_

Optimus nodded._** "**_Yes, Miko is one of our human allies, Bulkhead is her guardian_**,"**_

"Oh," Tracks looked around to locate the girl's guardian—which wasn't too hard with the way the ex-Wrecker was standing over her protectively—and put his weapon away. "_**May I?"**_

Bulkhead considered for a moment before nodding and adding "_**If you hurt her you'll be going to the med. bay in a bucket,"**_

The blue and silver mech nodded _**"Understood" **_then he knelt in front of Miko, folding his winglets apologetically. "Sorry, force of habit. Are you alright?"

Miko dusted herself off as she stepped out from behind her guardian and put on the "tough girl" attitude. "Yeah, better watch it or next time I won't be so nice,"

Tracks simply scanned her for weapons or other possible threats and shrugged "Whatever," he stood up and turned to Optimus and saluted. "Autobot Tracks, reporting for duty, sir!"

The other Autobots quickly filled in the newcomer and everyone got into their positions. Optimus turned towards the ground bridge as the portal opened again. "Autobots, roll out!"

The Autobots all ran through the ground bridge, but no one had checked to make sure Miko went back onto the human's platform before they left.

_**AN: For those of you that are Tracks' fans, there you go he's part of the action now. People that reviewed/added: Speedstreak360, JC (Guest), Dalek Spark, Kaleia (Guest), Phoenix1337, SparklingEclipse, star's dreams.**_


	16. Chapter 16

Where There Is Smoke

Talking:

"English or other Earth language"

"_**Cybertronian"**_

"_Talking on the phone or recordings"_

:comm. link:

[Texting]

'_Thought' _

(Bond talk)

** (_Bumblebee speaking_) **

Spark feelings

_Druatch_

_Flash back or change of time or place_

Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OC's, translations for Druatch can be found on dragon / (Just put a hyphen in between "dragon" and "runes instead of a space.)

Time changes:

Nano-klik=1/2 a klik. Klik= less than a second. Breem (cybertronian minute) = 8 minutes. Cycle=hour. Joor (cybertronian hour) = 6 hours. Solar cycle= = 1 week. Orn= 13 days. Groon= 1 month. Deca-orn = 3 months. Stellar cycle= 1 year. Vorn=83 years

* * *

Once the others were gone, Jack looked around "Uh, where's Miko?"

"Maybe she just… went to the bathroom?" Raf asked hopefully, hoping the girl wasn't about to cause trouble… again.

They all looked around for the foreign exchange girl but didn't see her. Ratchet groaned "Not again,"

Blaster started scanning for Autobot life signatures to see if there was a way to let them know to watch for the girl.

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Luckily, since the _Nemesis _was remaining stationary for the time being, Ratchet was able to bridge them right on board.

They all held their weapons ready as they stepped out of the ground bridge, watching for guards as the portal closed behind them. Seeing none, Optimus looked at his Autobots "_**We are going to have to split up to cover more ground."**_

Wheeljack spoke up "_**If you guys are looking for the vaults I saw a few that didn't seem like they were supposed to hold energon down by the brig when I was there before,"**_

Prime nodded_** "Understood, Bulkhead I want you to go with Wheeljack and check the lower levels of the ship to try to find whatever relics Megatron might be holding there,"**_

Bulkhead nodded and gave him a thumbs-up "_**Gotcha, Optimus," **_the two Wreckers took off, neither of them noticing the tiny shadow hiding by Bulkhead's ankle.

Optimus looked over the remaining bots. "_**Bumblebee and Smokescreen, I want you two to search the upper levels in case Megatron has the relics hidden there rather than the lower levels as we had first thought,"**_

Bumblebee nodded and took off while Smokescreen saluted and said _**"Yes sir!" **_before following suit.

Optimus looked down at the remaining two. "_**Arcee, Tracks, I want the two of you to try to access a computer terminal and see if the Deceptions truly have decoded the next set of coordinates first,"**_

Arcee and Tracks looked at each other and Arcee said "_**I hope you're better with computers than I am because I'm horrible at getting past firewalls,"**_

Optimus lead them down the hall "_**I had Blaster and Ratchet unlock the memory blocks that kept me from remembering my time here on the **__Nemesis __**as Orion Pax. I will show you the work station they had me working from; they probably would have changed it by now but the password at the time was "Hail Cybertron","**_

The two blue Autobots followed their commander "_**Well, that makes things a lot easier,"**_

They found the terminal and logged on, as luck would have it the 'Cons _didn't _change the password and they got in easily.

Optimus started to leave. "_**Better make this quick, Soundwave might detect that this terminal has been activated,"**_

Arcee looked up from the terminal's key pad. "_**Where are you going?"**_

Optimus drew the Star Saber from his back. "_**To find Megatron, and finish what we started in the Laurential Abyss,"**_ and with that he was gone.

Arcee started searching the data base now at their disposal "_**Think you could guard the door in case someone decides to barge in?"**_

Tracks nodded and activated his blaster and trained it towards the door in case someone came in.

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Down in the lower levels of the _Nemesis, _Bulkhead and Wheeljack searched the vaults, Wheeljack hacked the electronic locks and Bulkhead searched the vault before closing the door while he worked on the next one, one by one until they came to the hall that led to the brig.

"_**Okay, Bulk last two," **_Wheeljack knelt down to hack the lock when a Vehicon that had been on his way to the brig came and saw them.

He waved down the hall to get someone's attention before taking aim at the two Wreckers.

"Look out!"

Bulkhead and Wheeljack both ducked as a shot was fired and looked around to see where the voice came from. Bulkhead was praying silently '_Please Primus, don't let it be…' _ Sure enough, there was Miko peering around the corner at them.

"Ah scrap,"

Just then they heard Blaster's voice over the comm. lines :Um, stupid question… but, uh… we can't find Miko, is there a chance she…:

Bulkhead brought a digit to the side of his helm. "Found her, she's with me and Wheeljack,"

Then more 'Cons showed up and opened fire. Wheeljack deflected most of the blasts aimed his way with his swords and dodged the rest while Bulkhead fired back and stood between them and Miko, shielding the girl from any stray shots. "Miko, go to the brig and find an empty cell. Hide in there until we come for you,"

Miko hesitated, she didn't want to leave and was torn between doing as her guardian asked and staying to watch her friends' back. "But…"

"GO NOW!"

Miko ran into the brig and into the first cell she saw that had enough space between the bars for her to slip through. Unfortunately, she never checked to see if it was actually empty as she slipped through the gap in the grate.

Once inside, she slowly moved away from the cell door only to freeze when she heard something behind her. Slowly turning, she pressed her hands against her mouth to keep from screaming; there, in the cell with her was a bot, slightly bigger than Bumblebee or Smokescreen and judging by the build he looked like he turned into some kind of dragon and was green and tan with silver tribal markings on him.

Miko was about to slip back out but stopped when she saw the dragon-bot was chained to the walls and floor with thick and heavy-looking steel chains that had red energy crackling across them and his optics were closed like he was asleep.

She was about to creep in for a closer look when she heard someone out in the main part of the brig opening and slamming the doors to the empty cells. '_Oh no, the 'Cons are looking for me. I have to hide,' _

She looked around for a place to hide but the only place she could possibly hide was behind the dragon-bot. Running out of time and options, Miko slunk around the side of the dragon mech's body and hid between him and the wall. '_If you decide to kill me, make it fast,'_

Unseen by the small human girl, the mech had opened his optics when the Eradicon that was searching the brig came to the door of that cell. The 'Con was hesitant to open the door so he reached in with a long energon prod and jabbed him with it, causing chained mech to shriek with pain and rage and Miko to cover her ears to protect them from the noise.

"_**Come on, move over, let me see what's behind you,"**_

The mech snarled and transformed into his dragon form and bit down on the prod until it broke when it was reached in again and stood up as much as he could with the chains holding him down.

Miko was nervous that her cover might be blown but the dragon stood in front of her as if to block the Eradicon's view of her.

After a few moments of growling at it the 'Con decided that anything that got in the same cell as this creature wouldn't be coming out alive and left.

The dragon slowly settled back down on the floor and arched his back like he was trying to see behind him but was hindered by his bounds and, to Miko's surprise, he spoke.

"Come from the shadows, little one. Come where I can see you,"

The dragon's voice held a gentle strength to it, like an older brother comforting his scared younger sibling, he also had an accent but Miko couldn't place it.

Miko slowly moved around the side of the dragon's body, noting there was a lot less room in the cell since he had grown with the transformation.

"Come, I won't harm you," the dragon encouraged.

Miko quickened her pace until she stood before the dragon who gazed down at her with silver optics that had green slit pupils in them. "Whoa, you're really a dragon. That's so cool! I'm Miko, who are you?"

The dragon hesitated before lowering his head to look at her with intrigue. "I am Greenblades and I'm a Techno-dragon, actually. Why were they searching for you, Miko?"

Miko waved her hand dismissively "Ah, they do that a lot, comes with hanging with Autobots,"

Greenblades' optics widened "Autobots? Are there any here with you?"

Miko nodded "Yeah, there's…"

"MARCO!"

Miko smiled, glad she taught Bulkhead that game. "There's one now," she ran over to the bars and shouted "POLO!"

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Bulkhead and Wheeljack took out the last Vehicon that was in the hall and were just about to shoot a bot that was coming around the corner but stopped when they saw it was Tracks and Arcee and they quickly put their weapons away.

Tracks looked around by their ankles "Where's the girl?"

The two Wreckers looked around "We told her to hide in the brig," Bulkhead remembered a game Miko had taught him that would come in handy in a situation like this. He shouted down the hall "MARCO!"

Arcee rolled her optics and the other two bots looked at him strangely "I thought the kid's name was Miko,"

"POLO!"

Tracks face palmed "Marco polo, Seriously?"

Bulkhead shrugged and went further into the brig "_**It's a human game**_… MARCO!"

"POLO!"

They started checking the cells on the left side. "_**One person yells**_ Marco," Bulkhead yelled it "… _**and the other says…"**_

"POLO!"

"… _**and both players use the sound of their voices to find each other,"**_

"_**Cool," **_Wheeljack, and Bulkhead started checking the cells while Tracks kept watch in case more 'Cons came and Arcee ran to the other end to see if there was another way out; or another way for the 'Cons to come into the brig and get the drop on them.

Wheeljack was the one that found the cell Miko was in with Greenblades. "Hey, Bulk, I found her,"

Greenblades' head snapped up in recognition "Wheeljack?"

Wheeljack stared at the Techno-Dragon for a moment to try to figure out where he had seen him before until he transformed into bipedal mode and the Wrecker's optics widened "Greenblades, that you?"

Greenblades nodded "Yes, it's me,"

Wheeljack smiled and looked the other mech over "What happened to you?"

Greenblades chuckled "I'll explain later. Think can you get me out of here? I need to make sure those _sketh're_(1.) did not hurt my mate,"

Wheeljack hacked the key pad on the side of the wall "She here too?"

"Yes, she's in the next cell down,"

Wheeljack got the cell door open and let himself inside and used one of his swords to hack the chains away so Greenblades could shake them off of himself by unfurling his massive wings that were covered in metal feathers as far as the confines of the cell would allow and shaking them while Wheeljack went and checked the next cell over.

Tracks went into the brig and saw Wheeljack was breaking into another cell. "_**Wheeljack, what are you doing?" **_he went over and peeked in the cell, his optics widened in horror "_**Oh, Primus, no, don't let **__that __**one out," **_Obviously Wheeljack didn't listen because they heard the sound of chains falling and Tracks ran down the hall screaming "_**IT'S LOOSE, RUUUNN!"**_

Once he was gone, Wheeljack came out of the cell with a female Techno-organic dragon, this one was silver with lavender and sky blue tribal markings on her. The Techno-dragoness' blue and grey feline optics immediately locked on Greenblades and the two embraced and said "_**I'm so glad you're alright**_" at the same time.

They embraced for a moment longer before the femme asked "Was that Tracks I just saw?"

"Yep," Wheeljack answered in English so Miko wouldn't feel left out.

They pulled apart and she cracked her knuckles with a smile as she walked out of the brig "This day just keeps getting better and better…"

Greenblades chuckled at his mate's enthusiasm "Be nice, Silverbullet,"

The Techno-dragons found their weapons in a small closet just outside of the brig and the seven of them quickly left to meet the others somewhere on the upper levels of the ship.

On the way, they found a small control room and slipped in to hide from any guards after they knocked one out and dragged him inside with them. Once they made sure no one else was coming, they looked around at the room they were in; it was the security room.

Wheeljack snorted "How is it that the security room is the least secure room on the ship when they _know _there's 'Bots on board?"

"Because they are so busy _fighting _said 'Bots they forget to cover their assets," Silverbullet walked right up to the console in the room and started typing. "Unfortunately for them they seem to have forgotten just _who _they have on this flying metal hornets' nest,"

Miko looked up at Wheeljack. "So how do you guys know each other?"

Wheeljack shrugged "Shortly after the Wreckers broke up I found Greenblades and Silverbullet wandering the galaxy. They were working as mercenaries at the time and we traveled together for a while until I decided to see what else was out there and they got a call that brought them somewhere in another solar system. Not sure how Tracks knows them, though,"

"DO YOU KNOW HOW MANY TIMES THAT SHE-WITCH TRIED TO KILL ME?!"

Silverbullet flicked her clawed digits in Tracks' general direction. "Oh quit bawling, you pansy. I wasn't trying to _kill _you, you just kept making an aft of yourself and I really don't see how scratching your precious paint job could prove deadly,"

She brought up a screen. "Hmm, I can't keep them from setting off an alarm if they spot one of us… but I can make it sound more like a prank and less like an actual alarm," she brought out a flash drive out of a notch on her wrist and plugged it into the console. "With some help from a little recording we got when we first got here… there we go,"

She took back her flash drive and they all left the room, only to hide between the bulkheads just a few meters from the meeting place to keep from being spotted.

What none of them realized was the others were already there and Smokescreen—being just around the corner and reckless as ever—fired a shot at the 'Cons, alerting them to their presence.

"_**Autobots!**_" Both sides exchanged fire while one of the Vehicons bolted to the alarm panel on the wall.

The 'Bots all braced themselves and prepared for the worst when the alarm went off… but none of them expected what happened next.

The red lights were flashing but instead of the usual klaxons blaring, a recording of Knockout's voice played over the intercom.

"…_Don't cha wish your girlfriend was HOT like me? Don't cha wish your girlfriend was a freak like me? Don't cha…" _he gave a dramatic sigh and they heard the faint sound of a soap bottle being squirted and the all realized they were hearing Knockout singing in the shower!

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Knockout was in the med. bay when he heard the recording being played over the loud speaker. "_**What the…" **_then he recognized what he was hearing and panicked. "_OH PRIMUS!__**"**_

His patient from before sat up on the berth and looked at him. "_**What's up, Doc?"**_

Knockout growled before regaining his usual composure and purring "_**I was just about to put you on the active duty list again anyway… let's go see for ourselves, shall we?**_"

The two 'Bots left the room to investigate.

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The Autobots were still trying to stay somewhat out of sight but as the recording went on they were finding it difficult not to laugh. In order to keep from giving away their positions, a few of them muted their vocalizers so whatever laughter slipped out went unheard. Smokescreen peeked around the corner at the others and asked over the comm. links :Who's doing that?:

Wheeljack pointed at Silverbullet and answered :She did it!:

Silverbullet peeked around the corner and gave him a thumbs-up before ducking back out of sight when the singing changed to "_Don't ch-OH PRIMUS! Seriously mech, KNOCK FIRST!"_

They heard the sound of a familiar voice laughing "_Sorry, Knockout, didn't know you were in here,"_

Bulkhead bristled at the sound of Breakdown's voice and Wheeljack gave him a look of sympathy that quickly went away when Knockout's voice hissed again. "_And that is why we knock first, Breakdown!"_

Instead of taking offense, Breakdown teased "_Ah, c'mon, Red, you and I both know this isn't the worst thing I've caught you doing,"_

"_Oh whatever, just get out! I'm halfway stripped to my protoform for frag sake!"_

Miko didn't know what they were saying in Cybertronian so Bulkhead explained the conversation quietly to her. When she realized what was being aired across the base she asked "Uh, is this happening live?"

He whispered in her ear again "No, this is that recording Silverbullet replaced the alarm with. Breakdown's gone, remember?"

Miko almost missed the bitter tone when Bulkhead mentioned his blue rival but didn't press it. "Oh right,"

What they didn't see was a large mech, about the same size as Bulkhead, was sneaking up behind them.

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Back at the base, the others could hear the 'Con's bickering thanks to Blaster modifying the comm. frequency and putting it on speaker.

They guys all looked at the screen with perplexed expressions, Ratchet finally asked the question that was on their minds. "WHAT IS GOING ON OVER THERE?"

Wheeljack chuckled on the comm. link :We found two of ours in the brig and one of them replaced the usual alert alarm with a recording they found of some bot walking in on Knockout in the shower.:

"So the entire _Nemesis _crew can hear this?"

:Yeah, pretty much.:

Jack fell over laughing "Well, I bet Knockout's not going to be happy,"

They heard a shout and a loud _bang _in the background and the sounds of a fight starting up.

Ratchet frantically tried to get a lock on everyone's life signals but none of them changed "What happened? What's going on over there?"

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_Back on the _Nemesis

Bulkhead lurched forward when something hit him from behind, almost making him drop Miko but the girl held onto him as he regained his balance and turned to face his attacker but froze.

Behind him was an all too familiar blue mech with amber optics that smirked wolfishly and spoke with gruff tone that was full of false friendliness. "_**Bulkhead, fancy meeting you here,"**_

Miko's eyes widened "Breakdown? I thought he was gone,"

Bulkhead yelled an enraged battle cry and swung his wrecking ball at the other mech repeatedly, each blow was blocked by a giant hammer. "Go to hell, Silas, and this time _stay there!"_

Breakdown switched to offensive as the other 'Cons attacked and a fight ensued. "_**What makes you think I'm Silas?"**_

"_**Gee, I don't know, maybe because last time I saw you, you were just a suit for him to play puppets with,"**_

Breakdown laughed and pinned Bulkhead to a wall and spoke in English so Miko could hear him. "Is that any way to talk to your _big brother_?"

Bulkhead drove his knee into Breakdown's groin and knocked him away "You stopped being _my _brother a long time ago, Breakdown,"

Miko looked up at Bulkhead "Bulkhead, what are you…"

"GET DOWN!"

They all jumped when Tracks suddenly shouted that before they did as he said; all except for Wheeljack, who isn't good at taking orders from anyone and leapt towards Breakdown with his swords and knocked him out just as Tracks turned his servo into what appeared to be a blaster except it shot out a beam of dark energy that looked like ink being sprayed over anyone that didn't heed his warning and soaked into the crevices in their armor and caused spark to shoot out for a moment then nothing.

Until the 'Cons started to panic and stumble around screaming.

"_**Hey, who turned out the lights?"**_

"_**Where am I?"**_

"_**I CAN'T SEE!"**_

The bots on the deck all uncovered their optics and checked their own sight and slowly got up. When they realized all the 'Cons in that corridor were blind they make quick work of taking them all out and stashing them in a storage room they found.

Miko looked at all the Vehicons that were being dragged away and then at Tracks. "Dude, what did you do to them?"

Tracks held up the weapon he just used before switching it back to his servo. "Black beam gun, it negates light and temporarily blinds anyone struck by it, they won't be able to see anything or feel any form of heat for a while. I was behind the blast and you all ducked and covered so none of us were affected,"

Optimus nodded "Autobots, move out. We must get to the topside of the ship before we are overcome by Decepticon drones,"

Arcee slumped "That's it? After all that we're just going to up and leave?"

Smokescreen and Bumblebee went back to their hiding spot and came out carrying the Forge of Solus Prime between them.

**(_We found this on the upper levels, we need to make sure the 'Cons don't get it back.)**_

Smokescreen tried to adjust his grip on the Forge without dropping it. "_**Heavy… hammer… is…**_ _heavy!" _he grunted under his vents as he and Bumblebee struggled with the artifact until Optimus picked it up and hefted it onto his shoulder.

Arcee elbowed Smokescreen's arm-servo "You just _had _to grab the biggest relic you could find, didn't you?"

Smokescreen just shrugged "It was heavier than I thought it would be… and it's the _only _relic we could find. As far as we know the only other relic the 'Cons have is the Requiem Blaster and chances are Megatron isn't going to leave something like that lying around,"

The other Autobots followed Optimus as he walked away. Bulkhead picked Miko up from the ground and was about to follow but looked back at Wheeljack, who was standing there dumbly. "Come on, Jackie, what are you waiting for?"

Wheeljack looked around like he was looking for something. "_**Uh, Bulk, I… I can't see,"**_

Bulkhead checked his friend's optics and saw they were dim and white. He waved his servo in front of his friend's face and didn't get a response. "Oh scrap,"

* * *

_**Translations:**_

_**Literally means "shit-worm" in Druatch.**_

_**AN: People that reviewed and/or added; Speedstreak360, thePegasusponyPrime, kaleia (Guest),**_


	17. Chapter 17

Where There Is Smoke

Rated T for language,

Disclaimer: I don't own…

Bumblebee: GROUP HUG! *pulls everyone in team Prime together for a hug*

Ratchet: Bumblebee, what are you doing? I don't have time for games right now.

Bumblebee: One of the reviewers for the last chapter said we fight too much so we're all having a group hug.

Lady Q: So tough rust. You will hug and you will like it!

Jack: *looks around at the others* You guys thinking what I'm thinking?

Smokescreen: *nods* Oh yeah. BOT PILE THE AUTHOR!

Lady Q: EEP. *runs* I own nothing but my OC's!

* * *

Bumblebee noticed the two weren't with them when they all turned a corner and turned back to see them still standing there **(_Hey, guys, what's the hold up?_)**

Bulkhead called back as he grabbed Wheeljack by the servo and led him along. "Wheeljack got hit by Tracks' black beam gun,"

Miko looked over at Wheeljack from her position in Bulkhead's other servo. "Wait, Wheeljack's _blind?_"

Wheeljack smiled in the direction of her voice. "Only for a while… and as soon as I get my optics working again I'm going to give Mr. Secret Service a good beat down,"

Miko smiled "If you need any help with that I know how to use an ax,"

Tracks got out a pair of pistols and held one in each servo at the ready as he looked around the corner to check for more Decepticons.

"I _said _get down. Although it's kind of ironic; The only reason you are unable to see now is because you refused to follow directions, now you are completely reliant on someone else giving you directions in order to get anywhere until the effects wear off and your optics reboot,"

"Ah, shaddup!" Wheeljack waved him off with his free servo before Bulkhead started pulling him along behind him so the other Wrecker didn't get lost.

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_Meanwhile, on the bridge of the _Nemesis_,_

Megatron stood in his usual place on the command platform in the bridge, holding the Requiem Blaster to his chest like a beloved pet, when he heard the transmission overhead.

He sighed in exasperation '_and they call themselves Decepticons…'_ then he realized the flashing lights that usually went off when the alarm was set off. "_**What is happening?**_"

Soundwave looked up from his workstation and sent his master a ping that told him what his surveillance detected.

Megatron raised an optic ridge. "_**An intruder, here on the **__Nemesis__**?" **_he thought about who would dare intrude in his domain and laughed. "_**Autobots, they never learn do they?" **_he held the Requiem Blaster at the ready and was about to hunt down the infiltrators.

"_**My Liege, if I may,"**_

Megatron stopped and looked at the Decepticon that had spoken, a tall purple mech with a lone red optic, and let him speak.

"_**As you know, during my time of solitude I was able to create a new breed of soldier. With your permission I would like to take this opportunity to show you how they operate in combat,"**_

Megatron looked at the group of mechs that had gathered behind the mech and considered this. "_**Proceed,"**_

The tallest of the mechs nodded and spoke with a smooth deep voice that rang with authority "_**Predacons, Terrorize!"**_

The group of mechs, dubbed Predacons, ran from the room; half of them transformed into their alt. modes to move more quickly while the rest remained in their robot modes.

Megatron and the mech he was speaking to watched them go. "_**Once again, I am glad we found you while searching the catacombs on Cybertron for the tomb of the Primes, Shockwave. You are one of the few under my command that never fails me,"**_

Shockwave placed his only real servo over his chest and bowed to the warlord. "_**I live to serve, Lord Megatron,**_"

Megatron returned his attention to the main screen it had been on when the alarm sounded "_**Let us hope your creations have half, if not equal, your resolve,"**_

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The Autobots made their way to the upper levels on the warship when they heard ped-steps coming down the hall.

"_**Autobots halt," **_Optimus held up a servo and they all shrank back against the wall and tried to hide behind the bulkheads lining the hallway.

Unfortunately, Bulkhead ironically didn't fit behind the bulkheads and whoever was walking in the corridor adjacent to theirs spotted him and turned to approach them.

He was a purple and green mech with yellow accents sporting a yellow visor and appendages that were awfully similar to Airachnid's only his were thicker and covered in a velvety material.

"_**Well, what have we here?" **_He spoke with a raspy sinister voice that ended in a maniacal cackle as he slowly held up his claws as if in anticipation before bringing one to the side of his helm. :Tarntualas to command, I have located the intruders.:

None of them heard what "command" said but Tarantulas slumped "_**Oh alright, I won't attack until you arrive unless…"**_

Arcee saw the appendages on his back and, thinking it was another bot like Airachnid, fired a shot at him that knocked him on his back side.

The mech looked down at the smoldering dent in his chassis and vaulted back to his peds, laughing gleefully "_**Oh, goodie… now I get to shoot you!"**_

He pulled a weapon out of subspace and fired a shot at Arcee, which lead to the other Autobots returning fire.

Bulkhead looked down at Miko and then at Wheeljack. "Wheeljack, hold out your servos,"

Wheeljack hesitated before he held out his servos and Bulkhead placed Miko in them. "Miko, stay with Wheeljack, I need my hands free to deal with this creep,"

Miko sat in Wheeljack's servos, trying not to pout. "Ah, stuck on the sidelines again,"

"Maybe not," Wheeljack held Miko close to his face. "Miko look at me,"

Miko turned so she was facing him. "I'm looking,"

Wheeljacks optics flickered, trying to reboot but failing, as he looked down at her. "I need you to be my eyes right now. You think you can do that?"

Miko smiled up at him "You bet,"

Wheeljack smiled as placed her on his shoulder. "Alright, I don't do well with the whole 'sitting duck' thing so let's go over some vocal ques. You know how 'one o'clock', 'two o'clock' and 'three o'clock works', right?"

"Yep,"

"Okay let's use that. Here's another thing we can use; if a 'Con gets close enough to hit and I need to block this here…" He held his left servo level with his helm. "…is block upper left. This here…" he lowered it to chest level "…is left center block. And this…" he lowered it to waist level. "… is block lower left. Left kick should work just fine with anything lower than that. Same thing on the right side except you say 'right' instead of left. Got all that,"

Miko gave him a thumbs-up even though he couldn't see it. "Got it,"

Wheeljack nodded as he pushed off the wall. "Okay, tell me which way I'm going,"

Wheeljack gradually made his way forward with Miko giving him vocal cues to steer him along the wall until they came to where Bulkhead was grappling with a drone that had just shown up.

Miko spoke into Wheeljack's audio. "Okay, Bulkhead's got a 'Con pinned to the ground at two o'clock but he can't get a servo free to take him out without letting him up. Just two or three steps and he'll by right by your peds,"

Wheeljack followed her directions and drew one of his swords when he felt small tremors made by Bulkhead slamming the drone into the floor hard enough to break the wings on his back in attempt to knock him out so he could finish him off.

"Hey, Bulkhead, pardon my reach,"

Bulkhead quickly glanced out of the corner of his optic and saw the red and white blade being thrust at the drone underneath him. "Whoa!" Wheeljack ran the 'Con through with his sword and pinned him until he felt the body stop twitching so Bulkhead got up.

"Jeez, Jackie, watch where you go swinging those things,"

Wheeljack smirked and jerked his thumb towards the shoulder Miko was on. "Tell that to my 'eyes'," he drew his other sword and held them both so that the blades were against his forearms. "Ok, kid, where to now?"

Miko looked around and saw a giant wasp coming down the hall right at them. "Incoming Insecticon,"

Bulkhead looked at the wasp and noticed the bright yellow stripes that ran along its body along with the dark green torso and then tried to remember when he had ever seen an Insecticon with that kind of coloring or one that didn't turn into some kind of beetle. "That doesn't look like any Insecticon I've ever seen,"

Then the wasp transformed into a green and yellow mech with a wasp's wings on his back, big buggy purple optics and a wasp's abdomen hanging off his backside and spoke in a high pitched buzzing voice. "Oh, Wazzpinator find Autobot intruderzzz,"

Bumblebee went over and tackled the mech and straddled him so he could repeatedly punch him in the body and face plates.

"Ouch, ow, ohh, Why univerzze hate Wazzpinator?"

When Waspinator curled up to protect himself, Bumblebee stood up and patted his elbow before jumping on top of him. **(_PILE DRIVER!)**_

Waspinator lurched and made a squishy crunching sound before going limp and waited until Bumblebee made sure he was out of the fight and went to help fight another strange 'Con that showed up before dragging himself away, muttering "Ooh, Wazzpinator no like yellow Autobot… Wazzpinator no like _any _Autobot…"

The 'Con that showed up was a dark grey mech that had an acid green visor, pincer-like servos and a large scorpion tail sticking out of his back.

Tarantulas looked at him and hissed "_**Scorponok, what took you all so long? And where are the others?"**_

Scorponok snarled at the other mech "_**Don't you get snippy with me, Tarantulas. You were supposed to wait for Master to give the order,"**_

Tarantulas face palmed "_**Oh, great, we're calling him 'Master' now?"**_

"_**OF COURSE WE ARE! Our Creator made **__him__** leader of our little group so why the Pit not?" **_Judging by how Scorponok spoke of their "Master" he seemed to have utmost loyalty for him… or he was just an aft kisser.

Just then, they heard pedsteps coming down the hall; very heavy pedsteps.

The Techno-dragons' sniffed the air to try to catch the scent of who was coming and their optics widened. The Autobots readied their weapons to fight but the Techno-dragons quickly moved to stand in front of them.

Greenblades called over his shoulder "I suggest you leave quickly…"

The Autobots looked like they were about to argue but Silverbullet added "Trust us on this one, you do _not _want to be around when whatever is around the corner gets here,"

Optimus weighed his options and made a decision. "Fall back," he led his Autobots in the opposite direction they had been going, which they went quickly after a moment's hesitation.

Bumblebee looked at the Techno-dragons, who were positioning themselves between the fleeing Autobots and the approaching threat. Seeing what they planned to do, he tried to reason with them. **(_Come on, Come with us,_)**

They both smiled and looked at him "_**We will. We just need to take care of something first. Go with your friends, we will be right behind you,"**_

Bumblebee hesitated before leaving, looking back as he turned the corner and saw what they were facing.

A tall mech, just slightly taller than Optimus was, in red and black armor with dark shoulder spikes, wings on his back and gold optics had come around the corner and looked down at the two Techno-dragons, who had put their weapons away and nodded to the new-comer.

Bumblebee saw this mech also had a dragon alt. mode as he spoke to the Techno-dragons like someone that had found two children wandering the streets after dark. "_**What are you two doing here?"**_

They looked up at him and Silverbullet asked in neutral tones. "_**Predaking, why do you and your brethren serve the Decepticons?"**_

Predaking looked leaned forward, subtly trying to intimidate them. "_**Why do you two refuse to join me? I am far more superior than that weak Autobot leader that just ran from my presence,"**_

Bumblebee growled with anger at what Predaking just said about Optimus but Silverbullet corrected "_**No, you are living proof that third time is the charm," **_she pointed to herself and her mate to hint at who the first two tries were. "_**But that's not saying much… since the only reason Shockwave needed to try any more after the first two tries is because we wouldn't serve him and his Master like **__dogs__**," **_

She spat the last word and her tone turned to a low one, almost seductive. "_**That's what you and your fellow Predacons are, aren't you? All Megatron would ever see you as are beasts of burden for him to use as he wishes, like a huntsmen sending his hounds after game," **_

This seemed to strike a nerve because Predaking roared with rage and charged forward. The Techno-dragons also let out battle cries and started to transform into their dragon modes which in turn spurned him to do the same… problem was the hallway was too narrow for their dragons forms and, before he caught on to their plan, the Techno-dragons quickly reverted back into their bipedal forms and Greenblades hit the release on the blast doors they had lured him between. The blast doors cycled closed around the black and red dragon and he was stuck.

Predaking roared with rage and thrashed around to try to free himself but the doors kept closing around him and Silverbullet slipped past his head to pry a panel away and ripped some wires out of the wall so that it would keep closing around him before she and Greenblades ran away.

They blew past Bumblebee just as they heard a sound that sounded like a blaster charging to fire and a rush of air passing through Predakings intakes behind them. "_**That wasn't very smart to hang around like that. Move, move, MOVE!"**_

They ran down the corridor as a jet of flame erupted from the corridor Predaking was trapped in and they didn't stop, they only ran faster when they heard an explosion and another roar that got closer as thundering footsteps followed them.

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_Meanwhile, with the others_

The Autobots ran through the halls of the _Nemesis, _trying to get to the surface and—hopefully—a way out.

They ran as fast as they could but it wasn't fast enough, Optimus gave the order "Autobots, transform and roll out!"

Bulkhead realized something "What about Jackie?"

Wheeljack looked down at Miko, who was now in his servos. "Hey, kid, you know how to drive?"

Miko shrugged "Yeah, don't have a U.S. driver's license, though,"

Wheeljack set her on the ground and transformed with his driver's side door open "Does it look like anyone here cares?"

Miko climbed into the driver's seat and buckled in. Bulkhead saw what they were going to do and ran faster, shouting in a teasing tone "RUN FOR YOUR LIVES, SHE'S DRIVING!"

Arcee looked back and saw the ex-Wrecker was right. "HOLY SHIT!" She transformed into her alt. mode and drove as fast as she could.

Miko rolled her eyes and grabbed the wheel while Wheeljack gave her some pointers "Just worry about the steering and if you need me to slow down for the turns use the brake, other than that I think I can handle the rest,"

They took off after the others and made it to the hanger that lead to the roof of the ship. It was then they all realized a problem that Bulkhead was the first to point out. "Uh… now what?"

Wheeljack smiled and turned in the direction he felt the wind shear coming off the side of the hull. "Lucky for us, I got the _Jackhammer _hidden someplace close by and already on autopilot. Just need to send a few radio signals and it'll come pick us up,"

Optimus looked at the Wrecker "Wheeljack, will your ship be able to transport everyone safely?"

Wheeljack looked up blindly as his ship could be seen rising above the cloud line and careening towards them like a hunting shark "Only one way to find out,"

Just then Bumblebee came sprinting out of the hanger emitting distressed beeps and being flanked by the Techno-dragons who shouted "INCOMING!"

The Autobots quickly moved to the sides for cover and readied their weapons to fire on the Predaons who were just behind the three and the Techno-dragons both transformed into their dragon modes, now that they both had room to do so, and stood facing the hanger doors and snarled with smoke coiling out of their nostrils and between their bared teeth.

Scorponok was the first one out and he opened one of his claws to reveal a missile launcher hidden inside and fired it at the Autobots. The missile flew about wildly before careening to the side Tracks and Arcee had pulled Bumblebee to.

Tracks caught Bumblebee by the scruff bar with one servo and held onto a nearby navigation dish with the other to keep them both from falling but Arcee had taken a direct hit and was knocked out by the blast that sent her flying.

"_**ARCEE!**_" They all watched in horror as Arcee slid along the roof of the warship and right over the edge, falling into open space.

Without thinking about it and ignoring the servos trying to hold him back, Smokescreen ran to the edge and jumped down after her.

"_**SMOKESCREEN!"**_

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Ratchet saw Arcee's life signal decrease enough to show she was hurt and heard the others yelling hers and Smokescreen's designations through the open comm. line "_**Optimus, what's going on?"**_

Tracks' New Yorker drawl came over the comm. instead :Arcee was hit and went over the edge, Smokescreen jumped after her.:

When they heard this Ratchet immediately went to the main computer console to try to get a lock on their signals so he could try to open a ground bridge portal beneath them and Blaster smacked his helm on the console he was at before letting his digits fly across the key pad to help him out while Jack and Raf gripped the railing anxiously, worried about their friends.

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What none of the others realized was that Smokescreen already had a plan as he was free falling after Arcee, only focused on catching up to the unconscious femme before she hit the ground. That was the only possible hitch in his plan… that and the off chance he doesn't catch her until they are so close to the ground he doesn't have enough time to activate the phase shifter before they both hit.

He saw the swirling green ground bridge portal open up beneath them and momentarily reconsidered needing the phase shifter but still tried to catch her so he could at least break her fall.

He stretched out to try to reach her but she remained just out of reach until he saw a flash of purple on his right. He glanced out the corner of his optics and saw an Eradicon swoop up and crash into him, knocking him away from the ground bridge portal.

Luckily, it also knocked him towards Arcee so he wrapped himself around her and activated the phase shifter. '_Here goes nothing.'_

He braced himself for possible impact just before they fell through solid ground as if it were water, except without the splash.

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When Arcee came to she saw solid rock but it was transparent so she could see the 'Cons circling overhead. Feeling like she was moving through syrup, she turned her helm to look up at Smokescreen, who was clutching her to his chest.

Since the sound of their voices couldn't travel through solid ground, Smokescreen opened a comm. link with her. :Easy, I got you, you're safe. Just don't let go or you'll get stuck:

Arcee held onto him tighter. :I won't. By the way, Smokescreen?:

Smokescreen pulled her with him as he made his way towards a nearby canyon. :Yeah?:

Arcee smiled up at him :Thank you, I'm sorry and yes.:

Smokescreen stopped and looked down at her :What?:

Arcee rested her helm on his chest so she could hear his spark beating. :Thank you for saving me, not just from the 'Cons but from myself too. I'm sorry for being such a bitch and… Yes.:

Smokescreen smiled and continued towards the open space. :You're welcome, but what was the yes for?:

Arcee gave him a sly look and he caught on, an ecstatic grin split his faceplates. :Really? You want to…:

:The only reason I didn't when you asked me before was because I was afraid if I said yes you would get hurt because of me, apparently my plan backfired so… why not?:

Smokescreen would have jumped for joy had it not been for the fact he wasn't actually standing on anything and they had made it to the edge of the canyon.

Smokescreen poked his helm out of a canyon wall to check if the coast was clear before stepping out and hiding Arcee behind a stand of boulders so he could comm. Ratchet and ask for a ground bridge in a whispered voice in case of the off chance the 'Cons might hear them.

:Smokescreen to base, we could _really _use a ground bridge right about now.:

Back at the base everyone let out a sigh of relief and the kids all cheered.

Ratchet took a moment to calm his systems before responding. "Understood, I am sending one to your location as we speak. Smokescreen, don't try to carry her like you did before or you will only aggravate your own injuries,"

Smokescreen looked down at Arcee who looked up at him as he sat down next to her to wait for the others. He let his servo fall to his side and slowly reached towards hers, as if asking permission.

Arcee saw what he was trying to do and reached for his servo and grasped it.

Smokescreen looked down at their intertwined servos and back at her, hoping he wasn't pushing any boundaries, but before he could say anything there was a flash of quicksilver that knocked him away from her.

Arcee cried out as his servo was wrenched from hers and whatever had hit him wrapped around her and tightened until she couldn't move.

Smokescreen climbed back to his peds and looked around to see what had hit him and saw a giant metal cobra with red optics and teal and gold armor over silver plating.

The snake chuckled to himself and spoke with a southern drawl as he looked over Arcee zealously "_**Well, lookee what we have here," **_his forked glossa flicked out and the barbed ends brushed Arcee's face.

Smokescreen pulled out one of his knives "_**Don't you fragging **__touch __**her!" **_ He ran up to stab the cobra between his coils and twisted the knife until the snake screamed and released Arcee.

As soon as she was loose Smokescreen pulled her away from the snake and helped her hobble a safe distance away.

The cobra hissed and fanned out his hood at Smokescreen, looking incredibly pissed off. "_**Ya're really gonna bring a knife to a gun fight, pixie-boy? Ah'm Quickstrike, bitch!"**_

The cobra transformed into a mech that was a helm shorter than Smokescreen with a battle mask that looked like a gas mask and armor that had the same coloring as his beast mode and immediately started firing wildly at the two Autobots.

Smokescreen carried Arcee to the other side of another boulder to set her down and pushed her back down when she tried to get up and help him fight. "_**Stay here, you're still losing energon. I'll deal with… wait, what did he just call me?" **_he drew another knife so he had one in each servo and jumped out from behind the boulders with a loud battle cry.

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_Meanwhile, with the others_

When the Predacons tried to come out of the hanger to get to the Autobots outside the Techno-dragons reared up on their hind legs and beat their wings to fan the flames in the 'Cons' direction as they breathed fire at them.

"_**KEEP THEM INSIDE! THEY WON'T BE ABLE TO DO MUCH IF THEY'RE TRAPPED IN THERE,"**_

Wheeljack finally managed to land the _Jackhammer _on the roof of the _Nemesis_ and the hatch opened for them. "It'll be a bit of a squeeze, but it's better than jumping,"

Greenblades called over his shoulder while his mate released a torrent of fire at the Predacons. "Just take as many as you can, Wheeljack. We can get whoever is left,"

It wasn't an exaggeration, in their dragon forms the Techno-dragons were at least the size of the _Jackhammer _itself, if not bigger. Surely they could handle carrying a bot or two.

Wheeljack nodded and looked around "Hey Bulkhead, you still remember those piloting lessons I gave you way back when?"

Bulkhead rubbed his helm "Uh, kinda…"

"Good, I need you to pilot the _Jackhammer _to the ground, I still can't see,"

Track weighed his options "Hmm, ride with a pair of Wreckers or with one of the Techno-organics… forget that, I'll take my chances with jumping,"

He stepped towards the edge and Bumblebee grabbed him by the scruff bar and pulled him back so he could scold him and shake his digit at him.

In the end, Bulkhead, Miko and Wheeljack got into the _Jackhammer _andWheeljack talked Bulkhead through piloting the ship while Prime was to ride with one of the Techno-dragons and Tracks and Bumblebee were to ride with the other.

Just when the _Jackhammer _shakily took off, the Techno-dragons suddenly wheeled around to pick up their passengers.

Greenblades saw Silverbullet was going to end up with Tracks and Bumblebee with how they were all lined up and grabbed Optimus by the scruff bar with his mouth and lifted him onto the Techno-dragoness' back like a kitten. "_**Oh no, **__you __**take Prime and **__I __**will take Tracks and Bumblebee. I know how you are with the pompous mech. Besides ladies first,"**_

Silverbullet waited until Optimus was settled before getting a running start and launching herself off the deck while Greenblades crouched down for his passengers to climb aboard and did the same.

The Autobots clung to the spikes on the Techno-dragons' backs as they beat their wings to put some distance between them and the 'Cons. Unfortunately, the Eradicons were flyers and some of the Predacons were too, including Predaking who now seemed hell bent to burn them out of the sky.

Silverbullet looked over her shoulder at Optimus "Hold on, sir, this might get rough,"

Optimus grabbed onto the scruff bar that ran across her dragon form's shoulders as she suddenly dove straight down while Greenblades did the same thing alongside her with Tracks and Bumblebee.

They dropped straight down at speeds that would cripple any organic life form from inertia until the vast expanse of ocean came into view before pulling up and soaring back up again at a steady climb.

They circled around the Predacon flyers until Decepticon flyers were added to the mix and were able to outfly the dragons' wing beats with their thrusters.

Greenblades looked over his shoulder to see the bots following them. "_**Decepticon jets, how quaint,"**_

Silverbullet called over "_**Well, if we can't shake them, how 'bout we shake them up a bit?"**_

They flew in opposite directions so the 'Cons split up into multiple directions, one group followed Greenblades, Tracks and Bumblebee, one group followed Silverbullet and Prime and the third group followed the _Jackhammer _as it dove to try to intercept Smokescreen and Arcee.

One of the Eradicons saw what the Wrecker's ship was after and shot past them to try to take the two falling Autobots out. He saw the ground bridge portal open beneath them and knocked Smokescreen away from it so he flew into Arcee and knocked them off course for the portal and tried to fly through it himself.

His attempt was thwarted when a missile from the _Jackhammer _hit him in the thrusters and caused his entire back half to burst into flames as he crashed to the ground, screaming the whole way down.

Aboard the _Jackhammer, _Miko smiled up at the glass canopy that let her watch the 'Con go down with her hand still on the "missile launch" button. "Wreck and Rule,"

Bulkhead looked down at the girl that was standing on his knee while he tried to pilot the ship. "Nice shot, Miko. How did you know how to do that?"

Miko shrugged "Worked on Hardshell,"

Wheeljack pretended to write on his servo "Note to self: Get Miko some sniper training… and not on her bad side,"

Miko grinned at Wheeljack "Really, you mean it?"

Bulkhead was about to say something but realized he had to pull up because the ground was rushing up fast. When he finally managed to level out he looked around for any sign of Smokescreen or Arcee. "Hey, where did Arcee and the kid go?"

Miko climbed up on the console so she could look out the window to see for herself but her vision wasn't as sharp as an Autobot's scanners "I don't see them, do you?"

Wheeljack felt around on the console to hit a few buttons he had thankfully committed to memory and activated the ships scanners to check for life signals… and found none. "No…" he hung his helm '_This is gonna _kill _Ratchet, maybe literally,'_

After a moments silence, they opened a communiqué with the base to tell the others just in time to intercept a transmission on that frequency. :Smokescreen to base, we could _really _use a ground bridge right now.:

Wheeljack crowed and slumped back in his seat with relief while Miko cheered and Bulkhead pumped his fist in the air. "Alright, kid! Let's go get them,"

Bulkhead steered the ship in the direction the transmission had come from and began to descend towards the ground and landed the _Jackhammer _in the other end of the canyon Smokescreen and Arcee were in so it would be out of sight and wouldn't lead any 'Cons to their location.

When they disembarked from the hatch at the back of the ship Bulkhead went first and Wheeljack followed with Miko on his shoulder being his "eyes" again. As they went further down the canyon they heard the sounds of a fight.

Bulkhead activated his cannon and stopped Wheeljack with his other servo. "Wait here, I'm going to see what's going on,"

Wheeljack rolled his still flickering optics. "Oh sure, rub it in. At least you can,"

Bulkhead rolled his optics at Wheeljack's sarcastic tone; he knew he and Ratchet were brothers but Wheeljack would never admit it, but one thing that made their relationship obvious is they were both sarcastic.

Bulkhead crept along the wall of the canyon until he came to an alcove close to the spot Smokescreen and Arcee supposedly hit the ground and saw Smokescreen fighting a mech with teal and gold armor while Arcee kept trying to get a clear shot at the 'Con with her blaster from where she leaned against a stand of boulders.

Bulkhead looked at the 'Con they were fighting and realized the mech looked familiar somehow but couldn't place where. Then he realized why and his optics widened '_No… Wheeljack said he was…' _

Smokescreen spotted Bulkhead watching them and Quickstrike noticed the other mech looking over his shoulder and turned to look and chuckled "_**Oh, look another keister to kick!**_ _**This must be my lucky day…"**_

_Bang! Bang!_

Quickstrike cried out as he was shot in the back twice and thrown against the canyon wall. Arcee and Smokescreen pulled back their still smoking blasters and waited to see if the Predacon would try to get up and fight back.

Quickstrike started to climb to his peds but only managed to sway like a drunk muttering how he was going to kick their "keisters extra hard for that cheap shot" before all three of them fired again and didn't stop until he stopped twitching.

By that time the others had managed to shake the 'Cons and landed by the _Jackhammer _which Wheeljack was able to hide with a little holographic trickery and the use of stealth shielding to hide the ship's signal while Ratchet bridged them back for repairs.

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Back at the base Ratchet opened the ground bridge, ready to run through and help transport Arcee. What none of them expected to see was Smokescreen giving Arcee a piggy-back ride and brought her into the med. bay so Ratchet could tend to her wounds when they all stepped through the ground bridge with Miko riding in Bulkhead's servo.

"_**Smokescreen, I told you not to carry her,"**_

"_**No, you said not to carry her like I did before because it would pull my welds. If I carried her on my back it wouldn't do that,"**_

When Miko was placed on the human's platform the others made sure she was alright, and once her fellow humans were sure she was unharmed Jack looked at her with disappointment "Miko what were you thinking?"

Miko pretended to think about it. "Uh, I don't know, maybe the same thing you were thinking when you went with Smokescreen that time, Jack,"

Jack rubbed his face "That was different. Smokescreen _knew _I was with him and I was basically another set of eyes and ears so we were watching each other's backs and even _that _ended horribly,"

He waved his arm towards the ground bridge for emphasis. "You just snuck through the ground bridge with them so you could satisfy your adrenalin junkie habits and _no one _knew where you were until one of the 'Cons shot at you. Any of the bot's could have accidently stepped on you or they could have bridged back and left you on the _Nemesis_,"

While the two of them were arguing, Raf noticed two new Cybertronians had come through the bridge with the others. "Who are those two?"

The two Techno-dragons both looked at the two boys and then at the Autobots, trying to discern which ones were the boys' guardians. "_**May I?" **_

Bumblebee looked at Raf and considered Silverbullet's question before nodding.

The Techno-dragoness nodded her thanks and went to crouch next to the human's platform. "Hello, I am Silverbullet and that is my mate, Greenblades, over there. Who might you be?"

Raf was a little more nervous now that the strange femme was up close and Jack just stared at her.

Silverbullet tilted her helm to the side. "Hey, it's okay. I don't _bite_," she smiled and revealed long canines that extended to form sharp fangs.

The children all gasped and Jack introduced himself and the other children. "Uh, I'm Jack, This is Raf…"

Raf gulped and waved shyly. "H-hello,"

Silverbullet retracted her retractable fangs leaving only her regular long canines in their place. "Hello,"

"…And I'm sure you met…"

Silverbullet looked at the last human in the group "Miko, Yeah I remember her," she looked hard at the Asian girl like she was trying to figure something out. "Don't you remember me?"

Miko tapped her chin "Uh, you mean from a few minutes ago on the 'Con's ship?"

"No, before that,"

Miko looked up at the femme, trying to figure out where she could have seen her before.

Then Silverbullet realized something and held up one claw. "Hold on," she transformed and a holoform of a young woman appeared, she had feline shaped blue eyes and blond hair that was pulled back in a braid and was wearing blue jeans and a grey and blue halter top under a denim jacket.

The holoform held out her arms and spoke with Silverbullet's voice. "How about now?"

Miko saw the holoform and her eyes widened in recognition and she squealed as she ran down the steps to the floor. "Justice-san!"

The blonde holoform met her at the bottom of the steps and they hugged. "Miko-san,"

Miko pulled away and looked her friend up and down to make sure it was really her. "Where have you been? You just went poof about three or four years ago?"

"Justice" shrugged "Long story, kiddo. I'll tell you more about it later,"

Miko looked disappointed that she didn't get to hear the "long story" right away. "Okay. Hey, want to meet my friends?"

"Sure,"

Miko pulled Silverbullet's holoform over to Bulkhead "Justice, this is Bulkhead, my awesome guardian and even more awesome friend. Bulkhead, this is Justice Storm, that friend from back home I told you about. Remember, the one that introduced me to Slash Monkey?"

"So, it's _your _fault we have that noise invading our audio receptors on a daily basis?"

Silverbullet looked up at Ratchet. "There are many genres of human music, I am certain if you tried a few you are bound to find one you like. Or at least a _song _you like,"

Bulkhead frowned and looked at Miko. "Wasn't she also the reason you started cutting yourself when she went missing?"

"Justice" put her hands on her hips and tapped her foot on the ground. "You did what, now?"

Miko looked ashamed "Uh, how about we save that one for later when you tell me your story?" Miko put her hands on her own hips and looked up at Bulkhead. "Speaking of stories, what did Breakdown mean when he said 'Is that any way to talk to your big brother'?" she made her voice deeper to mimic the blue SUV.

Bulkhead sighed and lowered his servo to let her climb on and carried her with him when he went to sit on one of the open med. berths to wait for repairs. "Remember when Breakdown first showed up and I said 'we have a history'?"

Ratchet was about to examine Bulkhead but Silverbullet transformed and stopped him "I got this, you see what you can do for Wheeljack, he needs your help more,"

Ratchet nodded and pulled Wheeljack over to a med. berth and made him lie down so he could work on his optics while Silverbullet checked Bulkhead for damages while he told his story.

"Well, believe it or not, Breakdown and I really are brothers, with him being a vorn older than me. When we became old enough to get jobs we both worked at the same construction sites and eventually we became Wreckers together. Things were great at first…"

Bulkhead's happy reminiscing became was replaced by a sad face. "But at some point when we were still working construction Breakdown had met a certain medic-in-training when he went to a clinic for an on-the-job injury and the two of them became friends. When Breakdown found out he became a 'Con and it came down to choosing me or him… guess which one he picked,"

Miko put her hand on Bulkhead's servo "That sucks,"

Smokescreen called over "So we're all agreed that older brothers suck? All in favor say 'Aye',"

Blaster, Raf, Bulkhead, Smokescreen and Wheeljack all raised their hands and said

"Aye"

"Kind of"

"Aye"

"Aye"

"Aye, ow!"

Ratchet glared down at Wheeljack from where he leaned over the Wrecker to fix his optics "I wouldn't say such things about older brothers if I were you Wheeljack, especially since _yours_ is in the process of manually rebooting your optic sensors,"

Wheeljack reached under Ratchet's arm-servo to point up at him "Now do you see why?"

Ratchet grumbled and resumed his work before adding "Optimus also has younger siblings,"

The others all looked at the Prime who was focused on the terminal he used to decode the Iacon coordinates. "I didn't know you had siblings, Optimus,"

Optimus nodded "Two brothers, Ultra Magnus who is a vorn younger than I am and Hot Rod, who is two vorns younger than Ultra Magnus,"

Jack became pensive "Hot Rod… Hot Rod… why does that name sound familiar? Did one of you mention him before?"

Wheeljack called over "He and Ultra Magnus were both Wreckers, Magnus was the commander and Hot Rod was his kid brother that tagged along,"

Smokescreen muttered "_**Lucky slagger," **_from where he leaned against the berth Arcee was on, but Wheeljack ignored him and continued "Did Bulkhead ever say anything about them?"

Miko shook her head "No, the only Wreckers he ever mentioned were you, someone named Sea spray and he mentioned Breakdown was one a few minutes ago. He never mentioned any other bots by name when he told his stories,"

Silverbullet pressed on Bulkhead's shoulder experimentally and got a wince from the green mech. "You dislocated your shoulder, how have you still been using this arm?"

Bulkhead gave a lopsided shrug with the other shoulder since she was holding the dislocated one. "Turned off the pain receptors,"

The Techno-dragoness tsked and started to slowly bend his arm servo "Turn them back on," he did as asked and hissed as she lifted his arm servo up into an arm-wrestling position. "Hold it like that for a moment, I think I have something that would help…" she started to reach into her subspace but then quickly grabbed his arm-servo and snapped it back into place, making him shout.

"OW! What was that for?"

She just smiled at him and examined his shoulder to make sure she got it replaced correctly and took a cooling pad out of her subspace and placed it on his shoulder. "It doesn't hurt as much if you don't see it coming,"

She finished with Bulkhead the same time Greenblades finished taping Bumblebee's knuckle joints so the cracks in them from Waspinator's mandibles when he punched the Predacon in the face could heal and let both mechs go before the femme went to Arcee and looked at the caved in spot on her chest that was oozing energon through the cracks. "Are you going to be okay until Ratchet is done with Wheeljack or do you need immediate repair?"

Arcee looked like she was going to brush her off so Silverbullet crossed her arm-servos and spoke sternly. "Don't you dare lie to me,"

Arcee looked down at the floor "It still hurts but I can wait,"

"How much energon have you lost?"

Arcee checked the warnings that showed up on her HUD. "A lot,"

Silverbullet gestured for her to lie down. "At least let me stop the bleeding so you don't drop into stasis before Ratchet can get to you,"

Arcee started to lie down but then looked at all the mechs in the room and blushed.

"Don't worry, it's not like I would let anyone see you without your armor on," Silverbullet stood in front of her and held her wings out to form a tent around Arcee. "Now, then, I just need to move a few plates out of the way so I can seal a few lines to save some of your energon, is that alright?"

Arcee nodded. "Okay, I'm going to start now. Let me know right away if something doesn't feel right, alright?"

Silverbullet gently felt along the seams of Arcee's armor to find the tiny clasps and released them so she could remove some of her armor and set it aside to examine the wires and fuel lines beneath. "Hmm, looks to me like a few lines just got pulled loose when your chest plate caved in. Let me just reattach these and we'll see if…"

She looked over her shoulder at Smokescreen. "Okay, I know you're worried about her but trying to peek over my shoulder at her isn't going to help any,"

Smokescreen went over to lean against another med. berth but was still close enough to step in if this newcomer tried anything with his new… what was the human word? _Girlfriend?_

Smokescreen smiled to himself. '_That sounds about right, but if the others find out they might just give us a bunch of grief. I'll have to ask her if she wants the others to know,"_

Ratchet finally finished manually rebooting Wheeljack's optics since they were taking too long to do it on their own and went to take over for Silverbullet, who kept up her "wing-tent" until Arcee's armor was popped back into shape and placed back on her frame.

While Ratchet finished with Arcee, Optimus questioned Greenblades. "You and your mate seem to have a beneficial amount of medical training as well as admirable battle prowess,"

Greenblades looked up at the Prime in surprise "Actually, sir, we just know enough to keep ourselves alive,"

"Nonetheless, we have long been in need of new additions to our fold. We are few but we are strong, however as you saw out in the field today we are outnumbered. We would greatly appreciate it should you decide to join our cause,"

The two Techno-dragons exchanged a glance and nodded before he answered "We would be honored sir,"

Bumblebee beeped **(What about their alt. modes? They won't be able to leave the base like the rest of us can.)**

Raf nodded "Bee's right, you guys can't walk around in robot mode and someone will definitely notice a couple of dragons,"

Bumblebee buzzed again **(They're not just dragons… they're Triple-changers.)**

"What's a Triple-changer?"

Jack and Miko looked at the youngest human "Triple-what?"

Ratchet got Arcee's armor back on so Silverbullet folded her wings and joined in the conversation "Triple-changer, in addition to our robot modes we have not one, but _two _alt. modes,"

Miko's eyes widened "Cool! What else can you turn into?"

Silverbullet pointed to herself "I can turn into an _Amensokudo_ star racer and Greenblades can turn into a Hunter model flight mode. Neither of those will be able to blend much in populated areas, so it's a good thing our holoforms have a long range. How else do you think I was able to visit Miko in Tokyo?"

Miko looked up at the Techno-dragoness sadly "Why did you stop, _Ane_?"

Silverbullet looked down at the girl that just called her "big sister" and knelt beside her. "I'm sorry, _Imóto_, but at some point the 'Cons found our real bodies and we had to lure them away from populated areas. I would have come back but we were caught and were stuck on the _Nemesis_ this whole time,"

Miko looked up at the femme to see if she was lying. _Imóto, _that's what she called her, she still thought of Miko as her little sister. Miko hugged her servo "Missed you, big sister,"

Silverbullet smiled and held her up so she could touch her cheek strut to the side of Miko's face for what was as close to a hug as she could give in this form. "Missed you too,"

Bulkhead watched the little "sister reunion" warily until Arcee reached over with her ped and gently bumped his hip plating with it "_**Don't be jealous, Bulk. You did the same thing when Wheeljack came to Earth,"**_

Bulkhead frowned at the blue femme on the berth next to the one he had just got off of. "_**I'm **__not __**jealous! It's just…" **_he looked over at Miko who was being set down by Silverbullet. "_**She's my **_'_Imóto_' _**too,"**_

Miko climbed the steps to the human's platform and went to the partition that was closest to the part of the med. bay Bulkhead was on.

Arcee saw this and smiled "_**And out of all the bots, and some humans, she has met who is the one she always comes back to?"**_

Bulkhead thought about it and smiled. "_**You're right, thanks Arcee,"**_

Arcee smiled as she got up and went to lean against the end of the berth that Smokescreen was leaning against the side of.

Optimus looked at the two Techno-dragons and told them "Like I said, we are glad to have you,"

Ratchet pulled Optimus aside and made him sit on the med. berth Arcee had just vcated so he could talk to him quietly while he examined him. "_**Optimus, with all due respect, are you certain we should be taking them in at this point? As much as we need more soldiers and I do like having a little extra help in the med. bay, right now we barely have enough energon as it is without two Techno-Organics to fuel,"**_

"_**If it isn't too much trouble…"**_ the two mechs turned to see Silverbullet standing behind them "_**Sorry, I didn't mean to overhear, but we actually have something that might help with that,"**_

Ratchet eyed her suspiciously "_**Like what?"**_

The Techno-dragoness smiled at him "_**The reason the Decepticons have held onto us for so long was because we have been guarding a horde of energon here on Earth. And since they caught us when we were away from it and we did not disclose its location while we were captured they don't know where it is but we do,"**_

She tilted her helm towards the ground bridge "_**All we need is a little help getting it here,"**_

Ratchet followed her line of sight "_**Don't tell me, you want us to bridge you there?"**_

"_**No, we just need to be bridged halfway. The horde is located somewhere in a place the humans call '**_The Bermuda Triangle' _**which contains an electromagnetic field that shorts out most human technology due to inadequate shielding. It won't harm Cybertronians but it will make it impossible for your ground bridge to reach any coordinates within its boundaries,"**_

Ratchet looked at Optimus for approval, which the Prime gave with a nod "_**Alright, but be careful. The Decepticons may still be after these coordinates you claim to possess and may try to capture you both again,"**_

Greenblades appeared next to his mate and the two of them bowed respectfully "_**Thank you, sir,"**_

The two of them gave Ratchet the coordinates to a small island off the coast of Florida and the two of them were gone for about an hour before they contacted Ratchet requesting another bridge to their arrival coordinates.

When the portal opened again they all looked up to see the Techno-dragons in their dragon modes, each carrying a chunk of energon the size of Bulkhead's alt. mode in their mouths.

"Svyatoye der'mo(2.)!" Blaster covered his mouth and looked at the children "None of ya knows Russian, right?"

Arcee raised her servo and Blaster blushed. "Sorry, 'Cee, didn' know ya spoke Russian,"

Arcee waved him off. "Don't worry, I've heard worse. Come to think of it, I've said worse,"

Jack looked up at her "You speak Russian?"

She nodded "Da(3.), I do, and I speak German too,"

Miko shrugged "Well, learn something new every day. What languages do you know, Bulk?"

Bulkhead scratched his helm "Besides Cybertronian… English, bad English, I learned a few Spanish swear words from people I've met on the road…" then he looked embarrassed "And I downloaded Japanese when I met you because sometimes you say things in Japanese and I don't know what you're saying,"

Miko smiled up at him and pretended to swoon at the gesture. "How sweet,"

The two Techno-dragons set the energon down and looked to Ratchet, who was staring at the blue crystals in disbelief. "Where do you want them?"

Ratchet shook his helm to clear his processors and waved his servo "Just leave them there for now. I need to get some tools to cut them down to size so they can be stored properly. How did you ever manage to find so much?"

Greenblades huffed a laugh "'So much'? Ratchet, there's a whole mountain of the stuff where we just were,"

Everyone immediately went into an uproar.

"Are you _serious?"_

"We've been combing this planet for years, how could we have missed a whole freaking _mountain?"_

Bumblebee buzzed wildly and looked at Raf apologetically when the others asked him to translate and the boy simply said "Um, I'm not supposed to repeat those kinds of words,"

The two Techno-dragons transformed into robot mode and walked away from the energon. "Like we told Ratchet and Prime before we left the cache is on an island in the Bermuda Triangle, the electro-magnetic field that surrounds that place shorts out human technology and messes with Cybertronian long range scanners and makes it impossible to bridge to the actual coordinates,"

"So you guys not only wouldn't be able to find it without the coordinates but you wouldn't even be able to get there unless you can fly or swim. Either way the coordinates are yours if you could… do a little something for us,"

Tracks snorted and rolled his optics "Knew there was a string attached,"

"Yes, you would know all about that, wouldn't you? I hear you're working for the government now," Silverbullet's expression softened as she looked over at Ratchet shyly. "We'd be happy to bring you as much as you need when needed, no matter what. But like we said we only have enough medical experience to keep ourselves alive and… I was wondering if you could check something for me. If that is alright with you,"

Ratchet thought about it before nodding towards the back part of the med. bay where he still had the curtains set up and the two of them went behind there to talk more privately.

After that Arcee, Bumblebee and Bulkhead took the children home and Wheeljack bridged himself back to where he had left the _Jackhammer _to get it out of that canyon before anyone else found it leaving Tracks and Blaster to catch up while Optimus worked on the coordinates and Greenblades waited for Ratchet to finish with his mate.

No one noticed Smokescreen sneaking out of the base after his fellow Autobot guardians had left.

* * *

_**Translations:**_

_**Amenosokudo is based off of "Ame no sokudo" which means "speed of rain" in Japanese.**_

_**Svyatoye der'mo means "holy shit" in Russian.**_

"_**Da" means "Yes" in Russian.**_

_**AN: Well, narrowly missed getting swished by 'Bots but at least they were nice enough to include me.**_

_**Bulkhead: How come I always end up on the bottom of the pile?**_

_**Ratchet: You said this started because of a reviewer, who all reviewed?**_

_**People that reviewed and/or added: kaleia (Guest), Speedstreak360, Darkpool, SS (Guest), Dalek Spark, the Pegasus-ponyPrime, GlitchGirl23,**_

_**Optimus: Just out of curiosity, were any of the humans harmed in this "Bot pile"?**_

_**Blaster: nope, Miko's sitting on Bulkhead's shoulder, Raf's in Bee's servos, June's sitting on Ratchet's ankle which is out of the actual pile, Ah got the author right here and Jack is… Shit, Ah lost track o' Jack!**_

_**Jack: *muffled voice* I'm right here. Arcee, Smokescreen, if you two try to get frisky or anything when I'm wedged between you like this… **_

_**Arcee: *pulls Jack out of the pile and sets him on top* Sorry, Jack.**_

_**Smokescreen: *smirks hopefully* Hey, he said we couldn't when he was caught in the middle. How about now? *gets bopped on the helm* Ow, yeah, didn't think so.**_

_**Arcee: *whispers* maybe later.**_

_**Comments, suggestions, predictions etc. are welcome. Any flames will be fed to Predaking.**_

_**Hugs and Mugs,**_

_**Lady Quickshift **_


End file.
